Wells Fargo's Minneapolis History Museum has a program this month commemorating the 1982 Thanksgiving Day Fire. The Fire and people's memories are also featured on Wells Fargo's History site.

That blaze in downtown Minneapolis destroyed the Northwestern National bank headquarters, the company that rebuilt itself as Norwest and later merged with Wells Fargo.

The fire took everyone by surprise and the event was seared in the community's memory.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Fire. Minneapolis Curator Megan Schaack blogged about the fire, developed exhibits and hosted events that culled memories of the disaster, good and bad.

WellsFargoHistory.com has video memories from employees, including today's CEO John Stumpf, who began work immediately to get business back on track. The fire occured on Thanksgiving Thursday and burned through the weekend, but the Company opened first thing the following Monday morning. Rock stars!

The fire is a big deal in the Twin Cities. The Museum's events got a lot of attention from the media, in print from the Downtown Journal  and on TV at KARE  (Channel 11) and Fox 9 

(Check out how Channel 5   uses WellsFargoHistory.com as their content — that darn media!)

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Found in At Work, Events, Experts, Fires, First-hand Accounts, Minneapolis, Misc, Museums, Natural Disasters, Participate, Perspective, Prepare, Remember, Thanksgiving, Wells Fargo Bank

Check out this blurb from the January, 1915 Wells Fargo Messenger. Priceless.

I wish one and all the best of Days, ever!

Posted by Charles at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Found in Agriculture, Animals, First-hand Accounts, Get Involved, Holidays, Misc, Participate, Prepare, Remember, Thanksgiving, Wells Fargo Bank

On April 15, 1868 (a Wednesday if you're keeping track), a crowd gathered at the Abbot-Downing factory  in Concord, New Hampshire. A special steam engine pulled in to lead fifteen flatcars and four boxcars. These cars were loaded with the largest stagecoach order ever—a proud fleet of 30 elegant coaches, bound for Wells, Fargo and Co.'s stagecoach empire, the Great Overland Mail.

Our San Diego museum features one of the 30 coaches from this order. The four box cars at the end of the train, incidentally, carried harnesses for the horses waiting at the destination to pull the stagecoaches. There is a trunk in the San Diego museum made by the same harness-maker who supplied the shipment.

When the Pembroke engine steamed into Omaha, Nebraska  a week later, Wells Fargo agents and teams of horses were there to welcome the shipment.

The stagecoaches went into service right away, carrying packages and passengers across thousands of miles: Nevada to Wyoming, south to Denver's high mountains , north into the Montana and Idaho wilderness .

Stagecoaches had to be suitable for rugged trips like these. Wells Fargo specified details like "extra roomy inside," as well as:

Iron work to be extra stout; [thorough]braces 31/4 wide &; 13/8 thick stout stitched; Bodies made roomy inside &; 3 in. more room between back &; middle seats; candle lamps extra large size.

Skilled Abbot-Downing craftsmen shaped iron, leather, and oak, ash, and elm, to construct the vehicles.

A finished coach weighed 2,223 pounds and cost $2,500 . A deluxe paint job was an extra $20, and fancy lanterns another $7. Coaches seated eighteen people: nine inside and nine more on top, including the driver and shotgun messenger. Upholstered in leather and damask cloth, painted red and yellow and finished with a landscape on each door, the Concord Coach was one of the marvels of American craftsmanship .

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Found in Artifacts, Misc, Museums, Remember, Stagecoach, Transportation, Travel, Wells Fargo Bank

Time is falling back  and the sun is setting earlier on all of us. Old Sacramento  uses replica historic street lamps to light the town, and the only difference between now and the mid-19th century is the use of electricity instead of gas.

As I leave the museum on fall evenings, watching the streetlights come on reminds me of Wells Fargo's acquisition of the Sacramento Gas Works Company, who used to power the street lamps that lit "The River City." There is an interesting story of how a Wells Fargo Agent, Angus Frierson, "misappropriated funds" and made Wells Fargo proprietor of that utility.

By 1852, Sacramento's population was growing at a feverish rate. Wanting the civic prestige of San Francisco, Sacramento was in need of modern gas-powered street lamps. William Glen offered to take on the task of providing gas service to the city.

On May 29, 1854, Glen was granted a contract to power the new streetlights for 15 years. Shortly after he sold stock in his new Sacramento Gas Company, Glen formed a "group of five trustees" that would help run the company. One of the trustees was Wells Fargo agent Angus Frierson.

From his portion of the stock, Frierson gained the title of "President of Sacramento Gas Company." At that time he was also the Agent for Wells Fargo and Company's Express, in charge of operations in the Sacramento office (positions he held until he died suddenly on February 20, 1855). Shortly after his death, Wells Fargo discovered that Frierson had embezzled a significant amount of their money for his own use — the Sacramento Gas Company.

Wells Fargo filed a claim against Frierson's estate, claiming he "had custody of large sums of money...appropriated to his own use...to the sum of one hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars." The Sacramento Gas Company stock was sold at a sheriff's auction to help pay debts. The details are a bit vague, but Thomas M. Janes, Wells Fargo's Treasurer, bought Frierson's portion of the Gas Company. A "joint stock company would be formed to include the former stockholders," and another portion of Gas Company stock was later given to Wells Fargo as repayment for "42,000 in bonds and coupons."

From then on, Wells Fargo was a major shareholder — or more specifically, owner — of the Sacramento Gas Company.

In October, 1855, the first lamppost went up at 2nd and K Streets , one block from today's Wells Fargo museum. Two months later, construction was completed and gas delivered to Sacramento, lighting the lamps throughout the city.

The relationship between Wells Fargo and the Sacramento Gas Company continued for another 20 years — the utility saw many prominent Wells Fargo employees on its board of trustees, including President Louis McLane and Sacramento Agent Samuel Knight.

Posted by Greg at 01:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Found in Misc, Remember, Sacramento, Wells Fargo Bank

The 25th anniversary of the Thanksgiving Day fire that destroyed Northwestern National Bank  (now Wells Fargo) in downtown Minneapolis is fast approaching. The fire was, at the time, the largest office fire in US history and caused an estimated $100 million in damages. The flames burned for four days and demanded the efforts of 180 firefighters. Amazingly, the first five floors of the bank building were untouched by fire. Charles Lindberg’s first plane, a "Jenny" , on display in the lobby was unscathed (Lucky Lindy lives on), as were the safe deposit boxes and vault.

A new emergency plan — quickly put into place along with computer backup files stored four blocks away (new technology in those days) — allowed the bank to continue business the next day. By the following Monday, 1,500 team members were working from new office spaces throughout town.

The empty shell of a building stood for two years until it was demolished in 1984. The city block stood empty for another four years until the construction of the Norwest Center (now called the Wells Fargo Center ). Designed by Cesar Pelli , the 57-story bank tower opened in 1989. Pelli salvaged and reused many architectural parts from the demolished 1930 bank building. “These elements," Pelli declared, "help make the connection between past and present, old and new, to strengthen the continuity through time that is the hallmark of all great cities.”

Join us in remembering the fire. Contribute your stories online at our history website. And visit the museum on Tuesday, November 20, for a reception from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. CST. Objects on display at the Wells Fargo History Museum in Minneapolis include a melted telephone retrieved from the charred office remains.

Posted by Megan at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Found in At Work, Fires, Get Involved, Minneapolis, Misc, Museums, Natural Disasters, Participate, Perspective, Prepare, Remember, Thanksgiving, Wells Fargo Bank

Wells Fargo is running a contest  through December 22 that celebrates the Wells Fargo Wagon. (NOT the Stagecoach, folks — that's different!) Just submit your own music video of the song, "The Wells Fargo Wagon" from The Music Man  and you can win fabulous prizes! ("Johnny, tell 'em what they've won!") To help our Guided By History community understand the background of this contest from a historical perspective — and to encourage the submission of excellent videos! — Portland Curator Steve Greenwood concludes his history of the Wells Fargo Wagon. (CR)

THE HORSES

The horses that pulled the Wells Fargo wagon were cared for in stables like the one illustrated in these original floor plans and elevation drawings. Recently purchased by Wells Fargo at an auction, these drawings by architect Jas. H. Humphreys show the Company's stable and garage plans in Portland, Oregon (c. 1917-1926).

In Portland, "Fargo" was the favored horse who normally pulled the money wagon driven by messenger Edward F. Bontty. The money wagon carried cash transactions to businesses around town. If robbers tried to make off with the money wagon, they would be easily overtaken — loyal "Fargo" did not move for outlaws. Other stories about horses abound in Wells Fargo's Archives and historical collection:

The Educated Horse

"'Mutt,' the educated horse employed in our Englewood, Illinois service has been so well trained by Driver A.B. Corrigan that the animal knows every pickup on his route. In fact, between the hours of 5 and 6 in the afternoon 'Mutt' picks up about thirty houses, and seems to realize just when he can take things easy and when he has to get busy on his job."

Green Onions Galore

And then there is the story of "Paddy Fargo," who was arrested for eating green onions off a vegetable peddler's cart. The September, 1912 Wells Fargo Messenger recounted the details:

"Paddy's arrest for following a peddler's cart and eating therefrom his fill of green onion shoots until the vendor caused his arrest, declaring his day's profits were gone...

"It seems that like other 'good fellows,' Paddy has been led astray by his many friends. Policemen have enticed him with sugar. Saloonkeepers have lured him with pails of beer. He became accustomed to following temptation in spite of weights and brakes. Now comes his theft of onion shoots and his arrest."

"Incidentally, it is said Paddy's stall mate resented his plebian tastes and odorous breath when he returned to the stable."

Posted by Steve at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Found in Animals, At Work, Branding, First-hand Accounts, Misc, Museums, Perspective, The Music Man, Transportation, Wells Fargo Bank, Wells Fargo Wagon