page_title: Continental Illinois
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Continental Illinois / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: The Continental and Commercial National Bank Building at 208 South LaSalle Street in the Financial District of Chicago, Illinois
context_page_description: The Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company was at one time the seventh-largest commercial bank in the United States as measured by deposits, with approximately $40 billion in assets. In 1984, Continental Illinois became the largest ever bank failure in U.S. history, when a run on the bank led to its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Continental Illinois retained this dubious distinction until the failure of Washington Mutual in 2008 during the financial crisis of 2008, which ended up being over seven times larger than the failure of Continental Illinois.
context_section_description: Continental Illinois can be traced back to two Chicago banks, the Commercial National Bank, founded during the American Civil War, and the Continental National Bank, founded in 1883.
  In 1910, the two banks merged to form the Continental & Commercial National Bank of Chicago with $175 million in deposits – a large bank at the time. In 1932 the name was changed to the Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Co.
caption: The neo-classical Continental Illinois Bank Building at 231 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, Illinois
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