Alberta
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Alberta.
1967: In celebration of Canada’s centennial, BMO sponsored a special Confederation float for local Canada Day parades.
BMO has a long history of supporting the oil and gas industry in Alberta. Advertisements date back to circa 1940s.
1903: Edmonton main office opened in the east end of the city in a building formerly used as a barber shop.
1896: The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, the oldest commercial customer of the BMO Calgary main office, opened their first account.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

British Columbia
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about British Columbia.
1966: Thomas Mah became bank manager at the Pender and Columbia St. branch, Vancouver – Canada’s first person of Chinese heritage in that role.
1950: The first drive-in branch in Canada opened at the 10th Ave and Granville branch, Vancouver.
1892: Arthur Hamilton Buchanan travelled 80 km to Northport, Washington on snowshoes to open the first bank in Nelson.
1887: Campbell Sweeny opened BMO’s first branch in BC in Vancouver, just one year after the Great Vancouver Fire.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Manitoba
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Manitoba.
1913: The former Winnipeg main branch opens. The interior was gilded in gold leaf and it had the heaviest vault doors in the world at the time.
1957: The bank’s first drive-in branch in the Prairie provinces opened in Fort Garry, Winnipeg.
1979: BMO customers experienced the first “TV banking” outlet in Western Canada in the underground concourse below Winnipeg main office.
1950: During the Red River Flood, Morris branch manager P.H. Armstrong travelled to Winnipeg by water, road, and rail with five ledgers to continue services for evacuated citizens.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

New Brunswick
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about New Brunswick.
1963: Rebecca Watson became BMO’s first woman branch manager at the University of New Brunswick campus branch in Fredericton.
1867: The first BMO branch in New Brunswick opened in St. John.
1979: Fredericton main office became the 1,000th branch to go “on-line” as part of BMO’s mechanization project.
1972: Shediac branch employees participated in the Lobster Festival Parade by riding in a BMO-themed float.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Newfoundland & Labrador
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Newfoundland and Labrador.
1895: Upon arrival in Newfoundland, BMO was appointed banker for the Government of Newfoundland.
1961: The Wabush branch opened at its first location – a 42-foot trailer.
1985: BMO donated its historic Newfoundland Savings Bank branch building to the City of St. John’s.
1931: BMO’s St. John’s Bowling Team won the Bank Bowling League Series for the fifth consecutive year.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Nova Scotia
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Nova Scotia.
1867: Following Confederation, BMO’s first branch in Nova Scotia opened in Halifax at the request of the Dominion Government.
2016: BMO donates its Sydney main office building, originally constructed in 1900, to the Old Sydney Society.
1959: BMO’s night depository services began to be offered at the Wolfville branch, allowing customers to make deposits after hours.
1972: Nova Scotia Premier Gerald Regan cut the ribbon at the opening of BMO’s 17-storey tower in Halifax.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Ontario
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Ontario.
1975: BMO officially opened its new headquarters at what was then Canada’s tallest building – First Canadian Place (FCP) in Toronto.
1886: BMO’s historic Toronto main office building opened for business. The building is now the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Stanley Cup is held in the former bank vault.
1937: The first year of the annual BMO Curling Bonspiel. The event was often held in Kingston as a halfway point for participating employees from Toronto and Montreal.
1912: BMO’s first branch in Windsor opened its doors on October 15th.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Prince Edward Island
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Prince Edward Island.
1907: Charlottetown main office, BMO’s first branch on Prince Edward Island, opened on November 14 with Mr. A.M. Peters as the first manager.
1964: As part of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the first Confederation Conference, a meeting of the BMO Board of Directors was held in Charlottetown.
1964: BMO opened a new, ultra-modern banking building, designed by Charlottetown architect Keith Pickard. It was officially opened by P.E.I. Premier Walter R. Shaw.
1965: A second BMO branch on Prince Edward Island opened in Summerside on December 13.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Quebec
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Quebec.
1817: One November 3, BMO opened a branch in Montreal, Quebec, becoming Canada’s first bank.
1994: BMO’s first branch on Indigenous territory in Quebec opened in Waskaganish on October 13.
1817: Less than a month after the formation of the bank in November, BMO opened an agency in Quebec City. The first agent, Daniel Sutherland, also served as Postmaster General for British North America.
1903: BMO formed its Montreal Hockey Team, consisting of employees from branches in the Montreal area. The team competed in the Montreal Bankers’ League against other banks and won 11 championships by 1929.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

Saskatchewan
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about Saskatchewan.
1883: BMO opened Saskatchewan’s first permanent bank in Regina. It was known as “The Little Bank on Moose Mountain Trail.”
1952: BMO introduced the “Kiddie Counter,” Canada’s first teller wicket designed especially for children, at the Regina main office.
1937: BMO opened a branch in a log cabin in Goldfields, in the far north of Saskatchewan. The building had previously been a Hudson Bay Company post, a bunkhouse for a stranded boat crew, and an office for the Saskatchewan Department of Natural Resources.
1930s: Prior to serving as the 13th prime minister, John Diefenbaker had his law office in the same building as the Prince Albert branch.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.

The Territories
For over 200 years, BMO has helped shape the communities we call home.
Here are just a few moments from our archives about The Territories.
1898: During the Klondike Gold Rush, BMO (through the Bank of British North America, acquired in 1918) was the first bank to open a branch in Dawson City, Yukon. The branch accepted gold as deposits from prospectors.
1977: The branch building in Whitehorse, Yukon was removed in one piece on a team of flatbed trucks to allow for the building of new premises on the same site.
1969: Chief John Tetlitchi, a member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Council, was among the first to sign the guest register at the opening of the branch in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
1993: BMO opened in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories to better serve Indigenous communities.
Visit ourheritagebmo.com to learn more.