Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Encyclopedia
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, commonly known as the Boston Fed, is responsible for the First District of the Federal Reserve, which covers most of Connecticut
(excluding Southwestern Connecticut
), Massachusetts
, Maine
, New Hampshire
, Rhode Island
and Vermont
. It is headquartered in the Federal Reserve Bank Building
in Boston
, Massachusetts. The code of the Bank is A1, meaning that dollar bills from this Bank will have the letter A on them. Its current president is Eric S. Rosengren
, who replaced Cathy E. Minehan
in July 2007.
The Boston Fed is in a distinctive 614 feet (187.1 m) tall, 32-story building, located at 600 Atlantic Avenue
in Boston. The building, designed by architecture
firm Hugh Stubbins & Associates, is suspended between two towers on either side.
The Boston Fed also includes the New England Public Policy Center.
History:
On December 23, 1913, the Federal Reserve Act became law, and within a year the 12 Federal Reserve Banks were open for business. The Boston Fed, along with the other 11 Federal Reserve Banks nationwide and the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up our nation's central bank. The Boston Fed serves the First Federal Reserve District that includes the six New England states: Connecticut (excluding Fairfield County), Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston was organized in October 1914. It opened for business on November 16, 1914, in temporary quarters at the corner of Milk and Pearl Streets with a staff of three officers and 14 clerks. Permanent quarters were secured on January 1, 1915, at 53 State Street, formerly occupied by The First National Bank of Boston.
As the Federal Reserve grew, the site soon became too small. The Bank clearly needed a larger site, convenient to its most prominent stockholders and customers, Boston's large banks. Three sites were considered: Dewey Square, the corner of Federal and Franklin Streets, and the New York Life Insurance Building. However, these sites soon proved inadequate. In 1919, C.W. Whittier & Company, real estate brokers, presented a site. The Reserve Bank purchased the premises at 95 Milk Street and the adjacent Pearl Street property for $1,400,000, gaining a frontage on Pearl, Franklin and Oliver Streets.
The Board appointed a building committee, divided into two subcommittees: esthetic features and interior and layout, with E.R. Morss as Chairman. R. Clipston Sturgis was chosen as the architect for the Federal Reserve Bank's new building.
Construction for the Reserve's Renaissance revival bank was begun in 1920 and finished in 1922. The bank featured a masonry exterior of rusticated granite at ground level with limestone above. The interior boasted a painted dome ceiling in the entrance foyer; a gilded coffered ceiling and large N.C. Wyeth murals in the main lobby; marble door frames and mantles; and floor-to-ceiling arched windows on the lower level. Life-size equestrian statues once guarded the small entrance door, and a court with a fountain lighted by daylight also graced the Reserve.
In 1977, the Boston Fed moved once more to its current site at 600 Atlantic Avenue in Dewey Square. Earle O. Latham
, the then First Vice President of the Bank, oversaw the acquisition of the land and the construction of the new bank building. The 1922 Reserve Building on Pearl Street was declared a Boston Landmark in the 1980s and now serves as a luxury hotel, The Langham.
The 604-foot 33-story office tower linked to a four-story wing was erected between December 1972 and November 1974. The architects, Hugh Stubbins & Associates, designed the tower office floors that rise from a 140-foot bridge "suspended" in the air between two end cores. A 600 ton major steel structure called a "truss" marks the beginning of the tower's "office in the air." The exterior is natural anodized aluminum, which acts as a curtain wall and weatherproof facing. The aluminum spandrels or "eye-brows" shade the building interior from the sun in the summertime and allow more sunlight in the winter months.
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
(excluding Southwestern Connecticut
Fairfield County, Connecticut
Fairfield County is a county located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The county population is 916,829 according to the 2010 Census. There are currently 1,465 people per square mile in the county. It is the most populous county in the State of Connecticut and contains...
), Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
and Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. It is headquartered in the Federal Reserve Bank Building
Federal Reserve Bank Building (Boston)
The Federal Reserve Bank Building is Boston's third tallest building. Located at Dewey Square, on the convergence of Fort Point and the Financial District neighborhoods. In close proximity are the Boston Harbor, the Fort Point Channel and major intermodal South Station terminal, the building is...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts. The code of the Bank is A1, meaning that dollar bills from this Bank will have the letter A on them. Its current president is Eric S. Rosengren
Eric S. Rosengren
Eric S. Rosengren took office on July 23, 2007, as the thirteenth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, serving the First District. He serves the remainder of a term that began on March 1, 2006...
, who replaced Cathy E. Minehan
Cathy Minehan
Cathy E. Minehan was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that together with the Board of Governors in Washington D.C. form the Federal Reserve System.She held this position from 1994 until her retirement in July 2007. Ms...
in July 2007.
The Boston Fed is in a distinctive 614 feet (187.1 m) tall, 32-story building, located at 600 Atlantic Avenue
Atlantic Avenue (Boston)
Atlantic Avenue is a street in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA, partly serving as a frontage road for the underground Central Artery and partly running along the Boston Harbor...
in Boston. The building, designed by architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
firm Hugh Stubbins & Associates, is suspended between two towers on either side.
The Boston Fed also includes the New England Public Policy Center.
Current Board of Directors
The following people serve on the board of directors as of 2011: All terms expire December 31.Class A
| Name | Title | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Kathryn G. Underwood | President and Chief Executive Officer Ledyard National Bank Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,260 at the 2010 census. CNN and Money magazine rated Hanover the sixth best place to live in America in 2011, and the second best in 2007.... |
2011 |
| David A. Lentini | Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Connecticut Bank and Trust Company Hartford, Connecticut Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making... |
2012 |
| Richard E. Holbrook | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eastern Bank Eastern Bank Eastern Bank is the largest independent, mutually owned bank in New England and the largest community bank in Massachusetts. With 82 branches, Eastern has a 2.83% market share in Massachusetts as of 2009... Boston, Massachusetts |
2013 |
Class B
| Name | Title | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Vacant | 2011 | |
| William D. Nordhaus | Sterling Professor of Economics Yale University Yale University Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States... New Haven, Connecticut New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and... |
2012 |
| John F. Fish | President and Chief Executive Officer Suffolk Construction Company, Inc. Boston, Massachusetts |
2014 |
Class C
| Name | Title | Term Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Henri A. Termeer (Chair) |
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Genzyme Corporation Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent... |
2011 |
| Catherine D’Amato | President and Chief Executive Officer The Greater Boston Food Bank The Greater Boston Food Bank The Greater Boston Food Bank, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a non-profit organization that serves more than 394,000 people each year through a network of nearly 600 member hunger-relief agencies throughout eastern Massachusetts. The Food Bank’s current President and CEO is Catherine D'Amato... Boston, Massachusetts |
2012 |
| Kirk A. Sykes (Deputy Chair) |
President Urban Strategy America Fund, L.P. Boston, Massachusetts |
2013 |
History:
On December 23, 1913, the Federal Reserve Act became law, and within a year the 12 Federal Reserve Banks were open for business. The Boston Fed, along with the other 11 Federal Reserve Banks nationwide and the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up our nation's central bank. The Boston Fed serves the First Federal Reserve District that includes the six New England states: Connecticut (excluding Fairfield County), Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston was organized in October 1914. It opened for business on November 16, 1914, in temporary quarters at the corner of Milk and Pearl Streets with a staff of three officers and 14 clerks. Permanent quarters were secured on January 1, 1915, at 53 State Street, formerly occupied by The First National Bank of Boston.
As the Federal Reserve grew, the site soon became too small. The Bank clearly needed a larger site, convenient to its most prominent stockholders and customers, Boston's large banks. Three sites were considered: Dewey Square, the corner of Federal and Franklin Streets, and the New York Life Insurance Building. However, these sites soon proved inadequate. In 1919, C.W. Whittier & Company, real estate brokers, presented a site. The Reserve Bank purchased the premises at 95 Milk Street and the adjacent Pearl Street property for $1,400,000, gaining a frontage on Pearl, Franklin and Oliver Streets.
The Board appointed a building committee, divided into two subcommittees: esthetic features and interior and layout, with E.R. Morss as Chairman. R. Clipston Sturgis was chosen as the architect for the Federal Reserve Bank's new building.
Construction for the Reserve's Renaissance revival bank was begun in 1920 and finished in 1922. The bank featured a masonry exterior of rusticated granite at ground level with limestone above. The interior boasted a painted dome ceiling in the entrance foyer; a gilded coffered ceiling and large N.C. Wyeth murals in the main lobby; marble door frames and mantles; and floor-to-ceiling arched windows on the lower level. Life-size equestrian statues once guarded the small entrance door, and a court with a fountain lighted by daylight also graced the Reserve.
In 1977, the Boston Fed moved once more to its current site at 600 Atlantic Avenue in Dewey Square. Earle O. Latham
Earle O. Latham
Earle O. Latham was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He attended Boston University, Rutgers University School of Banking and Columbia University Graduate School of Management. During 46 years of employment, Latham rose from a messenger to serve as the First Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank...
, the then First Vice President of the Bank, oversaw the acquisition of the land and the construction of the new bank building. The 1922 Reserve Building on Pearl Street was declared a Boston Landmark in the 1980s and now serves as a luxury hotel, The Langham.
The 604-foot 33-story office tower linked to a four-story wing was erected between December 1972 and November 1974. The architects, Hugh Stubbins & Associates, designed the tower office floors that rise from a 140-foot bridge "suspended" in the air between two end cores. A 600 ton major steel structure called a "truss" marks the beginning of the tower's "office in the air." The exterior is natural anodized aluminum, which acts as a curtain wall and weatherproof facing. The aluminum spandrels or "eye-brows" shade the building interior from the sun in the summertime and allow more sunlight in the winter months.
See also
- Federal Reserve SystemFederal Reserve SystemThe Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
- Federal Reserve Districts
- Federal Reserve BranchesFederal Reserve BranchesThere are 24 Federal Reserve Branches. As late as 2008, there were 25 branches, but in October 2008 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Buffalo Branch was closed.List of Federal Reserve Branches* Boston* New York...
- Federal Reserve SystemFederal Reserve SystemThe Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
- Federal Reserve ActFederal Reserve ActThe Federal Reserve Act is an Act of Congress that created and set up the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States of America, and granted it the legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes and Federal Reserve Bank Notes as legal tender...
- Federal Reserve Bank Building (Boston)Federal Reserve Bank Building (Boston)The Federal Reserve Bank Building is Boston's third tallest building. Located at Dewey Square, on the convergence of Fort Point and the Financial District neighborhoods. In close proximity are the Boston Harbor, the Fort Point Channel and major intermodal South Station terminal, the building is...
- Structure of the Federal Reserve SystemStructure of the Federal Reserve SystemThe Federal Reserve System is composed of five parts:# The presidentially appointed Board of Governors , an independent federal government agency located in Washington, D.C....