The bank had opened in 1821 in a nearby store and then moved to the new building in 1827. At that time, it was one of the few stone buildings in York and was the town's first bank building. During the 1837 rebellion, William Lyon Mackenzie and the Reformers marched down Yonge Street with a plan to attack this building and steal the gold stored within – unsuccessfully. In 1851, the bank built an addition to the rear. The bank itself failed in 1866 and was put in receivership.