Roosevelt & Son

Roosevelt & Son was an American investment banking firm connected with the Roosevelt Family for nearly two centuries. The firm was among the oldest banking houses on Wall Street. Many of the male members of the Roosevelt family worked for the firm in some capacity.

Roosevelt & Son traces its history back to 1797. The firm was founded as a hardware business by James Jacobus Roosevelt at 97 Maiden Lane in Manhattan. James' son Cornelius Roosevelt would join the business in 1818 as a partner and the firm would be renamed James I. Roosevelt & Son. Roosevelt & Son entered banking in the early decades of the 19th century by discounting the notes of various customers of the hardware business and later other merchants in New York City. In 1824, the Roosevelts were involved in the formation of Chemical Bank. By 1850, Roosevelt had transitioned from the hardware trade to the importation of plate glass which was an important component of the construction boom going on at that time in New York.

In 1865, Cornelius Roosevelt retired from the company and by that time, in the mid-1860s, Roosevelt & Son had begun the transition toward becoming a full-fledged banking house, primarily focused on private banking and investments. In 1876, the company sold its plate glass business to an English company and from that point forward was focused exclusively on financial services. The firm was known primarily for its "unbiased investment counsel" which the firm provided to a client base that included institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals and various trusts and estates.

In 1934, in response to the passage of the Glass–Steagall Act Roosevelt & Son separated into three firms:

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