The doors to East Cambridge Savings Bank first opened on May 20, 1854. For all practical purposes, they have not closed since. Despite the “banker’s hours” of yesteryear, customers who joined the East Cambridge Savings Bank family knew then, as they do now, that their finances were safe in the hands of their neighbors – people across the street or around the corner. The gaslights may have been extinguished at the end of the workday, but the presence of East Cambridge Savings Bank continued to burn brightly in the confidence of its customers.

Over the next century and a half, the Bank followed a slow but steady pattern of growth. The construction of a new banking headquarters administration building on Cambridge Street, the expansion of its original Cambridge Street location, and the addition of branch locations had one thing in common: more open doors to welcome old and new customers.

Today, East Cambridge Savings Bank is accessible to its customers virtually around the clock, thanks to communications and technology advances that have given us the telephone, the ATM, the Internet and the World Wide Web.

But, the essence of East Cambridge Savings Bank has not changed over the decades. It is as evident today as ever – an indefinable, abstract combination of promise to the customer, pride in work well done, and a powerful commitment to community ideals.

“I am both proud and privileged to be part of this outstanding mutual financial institution, a community bank that has historically and steadfastly provided outstanding service to its customers and maintained its commitment to the community and its needs.”

- William F. McGilvreay
Chief Executive Officer
Decades of Dedication
The chronicle of East Cambridge Savings Bank may be best viewed through the lens of our country’s history, which provides a perspective otherwise difficult to grasp.

Hillsboro, New Hampshire native Franklin Pierce was president of the United States when East Cambridge Savings Bank was chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a mutual savings bank. The Civil War was seven years away, and Abraham Lincoln would soon come to attention in a series of debates with Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

Samuel B. Morse’s telegraph was in its primitive stages, and modern miracles such as electricity, the typewriter and the telephone were yet to be invented. The automobile, and even the modern bicycle, were years away. In nearby Concord, Massachusetts, Henry David Thoreau was about to publish “Walden.”

A New Bank, A New Way of Banking
The notion of a mutual savings bank was also relatively new in 1854. The concept was developed in the early 1800s as a way to encourage thrift among working people. This new type of financial institution would provide banking services and access to credit to those whose needs were not being considered by the larger and established banking community. It was not the intent of the founders of a mutual savings bank to earn a profit. Rather, the bank’s earnings would benefit its depositors. Profits not paid directly to them in interest would still benefit them, by being held as surplus, to insure the safety and soundness of the bank.

East Cambridge Savings Bank is one of the last remaining mutual savings banks in our marketplace. We have no stockholders. Instead, like all mutual savings banks, we are organized under a Trustee system.

Trustees begin as members of a larger group known as the Bank’s Corporators, in whom the corporate powers of East Cambridge Savings Bank are vested. This group of individuals represents the diverse interest and communities served by the bank. Today’s Corporators are a continuation of the original governing body that has been in office since 1854.

From among their membership, Corporators elect individuals to serve as Trustees, responsible for seeing that the interests of the depositors, borrowers, and members of the community are considered when management decisions are made. Using all applicable laws and any provisions of the Bank’s by-laws, they govern the business and affairs of the Bank to chart its course for the future.

“East Cambridge Savings Bank has been an integral part of this community for 150 years. While the community has changed remarkably over many generations,
East Cambridge Savings Bank has been a constant provider of financial services and a source of good citizenship.”

- Arthur C. Spears
President and Chief Operations Officer
From the Trustees, the Board of Investment is elected to serve as the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees and is responsible for working closely with senior management on the operations of the Bank. Additionally, the Audit Committee, also elected from the Board of Trustees, works with the Internal Auditor and External Certified Public Accounting firm auditors to monitor the Bank’s system of internal controls, and accounting and financial reporting practices.

The Trustee system ensures that the original intent of the mutual savings bank charter remains in place. Control of the Bank remains within the Bank, where it can be more effectively used to guarantee that the needs of depositors, and those pressing needs of the community, are being met.

Celebrating, With Pride
The creation of a mutual savings bank in 1854 that was dedicated to people of moderate means within the community was truly a significant event in the history of the East Cambridge neighborhood and in the lives of its residents.

East Cambridge Savings Bank is proud of the role it has played in the development of our community over the past 150 years. We have prepared this Anniversary section of our web site as a tribute to our founders, to our customers, and to our community, and to illustrate our pledge to continue the legacy of East Cambridge Savings Bank well into the future.

Sincerely,

William F. McGilvreay
Chief Executive Officer 		Arthur C. Spears
President and Chief Operations Officer