Ebenezer Hayward, A Leader in Banking in the 1800's

    Ebenezer Hayward was a financial innovator in the business of banking.  He helped to
    establish Mendon's first bank in 1825, the only bank between Worcester and
    Providence.  By 1832, after family and economic conditions changed, he transferred
    the business to a neighboring town to utilize a new influx of financial energy.  He
    helped to create an improvement in the way money was loaned and invested, and he
    became an influence that promoted economic growth and development of the region.

    Ebenezer moved to Mendon to be cashier of the Mendon Bank, but neither the bank
    nor his house had been completed.  He moved in with his brother Caleb's family at 38
    Maple Street until his house was ready. The china closet in the parlor served as a
    temporary bank vault.  When the brick bank opened at 3 Main Street, Caleb was a
    director, and Caleb's father-in-law, Seth Hastings, was bank president.  Ebenezer's
    new place to live was a stately federal style house at 7 Hastings Street.  The bank's
    system of operation was called insider lending.  Money was loaned only to people who
    had close connections to the directors.  For six years, Ebenezer, with approval of the
    president, ran the day to day operations of the Mendon Bank.

    The 1830's brought about change in the institution's leadership.  Seth Hastings died
    in 1831 and Caleb Hayward died in 1832.  Ebenezer became the new C.E.O.  The
    focus of the region's economy was shifting to the new Blackstone Canal which was
    showing signs of prosperity.  Ebenezer moved the business to Uxbridge, and
    modernized the lending system by opening up a broader spectrum of directors and
    customers.  It was a time of industrialization along the Blackstone, Mumford and West
    Rivers.  The new president of the new bank re-organized banking policies to create a
    national banking system to accommodate new opportunities provided by the hardest
    working rivers in the Northeast.

    Ebenezer and his family continued to live at 7 Hastings Street until about 1840.  He
    was married to Susan Burbeck of Boston.  She was the daughter of William Burbeck,
    an officer in the Revolutionary War.  They raised six children in their beautiful home in
    the village before moving to Uxbridge.  He was an active  member of the Unitarian
    Church.  Historian Ellery Bicknell Crane praised him for his "superior business ability,
    unsullied integrity and sound judgment in matter of finances."  His children and
    grandchildren went on to become bank and woolen mill executives in Uxbridge,
    Douglas and other area towns.  His foresight and innovation created change that
    promoted growth and development in the region's economy.

    The current owner (2011) of 7 Hastings Street is A.J. Jones and Co., Inc., Electrical
    Contractor.

    Richard Grady                                                                             
    Mendon, MA

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The Ebenezer Hayward House - 7 Hastings Street

    The home of Atty. Caleb Hayward and his
    wife, Mary Hastings Hayward. She was the
    daughter of Seth and Chloe Hastings. 1820