Manhattan Company is founded

The Manhattan Company, claimed to bring fresh water to New York City, but its true objective was to establish a bank, which eventually became JP Morgan Chase. While the bank thrived, the water project faltered. The plan involved constructing a waterworks near Collect Pond and laying 25 miles of log pipes throughout the city. Workers, including enslaved people, were paid modest wages, with their earnings often going to their owners. However, the city's industrial growth soon compromised the water quality, leading to the project's decline.In 1800, New York City extended only as far north as Chambers Street. Above this, there were scattered homes, farms, and various industrial sites like slaughterhouses and tanneries near the now-polluted Collect Pond. The Manhattan Company planned to build a waterworks on Reade Street to distribute water using a network of log pipes. This required laying about 25 miles of pipes, necessitating the removal of cobblestones, digging deep trenches, and installing 13-foot-long pine logs. The trenches were then refilled, and excess dirt was removed.

The company merged with Chase National Bank in 1955 to form the Chase Manhattan Bank. It is the oldest of the predecessor institutions that eventually formed the current JPMorgan Chase & Co.