In 1916, Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express opened a new office in Washington, DC. Staffing the desk was the redoubtable Bronson Quaites.

Wells Fargo Messenger, the Company magazine in those years, spent a lot of ink on the appointments the office featured—the view, the furniture, stuff like that—and services the location specialized in. But Wells Fargo's DC office soon came to be associated with Miss Quaites herself. She was a remarkable person: efficient, helpful, polite, sociable and very knowledgeable. Wells Fargo had always prized the human factor in its business, but Bronson Quaites took it to an historic level.

A 1918 issue of the Messenger profiled Quaites and described her talents in depth: "Miss Quaites is in charge of the office, and she is not only a source of much helpful information, but a most valuable aid in clearing upmany little points of detail in connection with express shipments." The article continues with an awed description of the skill Miss Quaites showed, giving expert information to anyone who asked. Bronson Quaites was, in reality, an extension of the Washington DC Chamber of Commerce.

The most significant piece of Miss Quaites' story is that she was the actual manager of the Washington, DC office. She had been in the express business since 1911 and joined Wells Fargo when it took over express operations on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Her boss, General Agent W.C. Johnson, brought her with him to the nation's capitol, but since he spent most of his time at the Union Station depot, he relied more and more on Bronson to handle the office downtown. Rather than the classic "Girl Friday," who does everything anonymously while the guy she assists gets all the credit, Miss Quaites was named Office Manager.

Whether it was Johnson's forward thinking for the time, or the strength of Miss Quaites' personality and her determination to be recognized, we can't say without more research. (Any relatives out there?) Whatever the case, "Mr. Johnson leaves a great deal of the detail work to her, ..in full confidence that it will be faithfully and competently handled."

High praise—not just to be recognized and have a write up in the Company rag, but to set the example company wide. Nevertheless, Bronson Quaites still had that extra workload all women carried on the job before our time (and since?):

"Miss Quaites retains the pleasant personality, grace and dignity that every ideal business girl should possess."