A week and a half ago, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Wells Fargo's Stagecoach Appearance Program. The event was at the Hayward, California store.
I got lots of video — some of it was even useable for Guided By History! Here for you now is Part II...enjoy!
If family is the root of Black culture, as Ebony surmised in 2002 
, then family reunions strengthen those roots. With a goal of preserving the family, Black family reunions have become very popular over the past decade, and many families look forward to Juneteenth as a time to reconnect.
Parades, barbecues, fishing and baseball are traditional Juneteenth activities , but the holiday is traditionally focused on education and self improvement — speakers are brought in, and elders recount events of the past. A true Juneteenth celebration leaves families and friends heart-warmed from a day of fellowship and proud of a rich history of struggle and achievement.
These days, Juneteenth celebrates African American freedom, family, education and community. There are many ways to celebrate : from an outdoor cookout with traditional foods, to a special family gathering in the home.
To learn how Juneteenth celebrations have endured and evolved, start with a reading of its history . Plan a special event, and gather the family to acknowledge the importance of the holiday. Discuss your family's history. It is important to build a connection to your past. Separation is a fact of African American history, so genealogy is more than a hobby — it is the search for identity and the establishment of legacies.
Alex Haley said , "In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness."
Juneteenth is a day for everyone to celebrate history and freedom, as well as an opportunity for you to understand and appreciate your family's role among the generations. History is basically events in time, but it's also so much more — it is a force (like weather, maybe?) that affects how we move forward with our lives every day.
When we help each other understand who we were and what we’ve done over time, we can each understand a little better who we are and who we can become over time.
June is Pride Month, commemorating the beginning of the modern gay rights movement at Stonewall in New York City, 1969. Over the past couple weeks, and for the next couple weeks, pride events are taking place in many cities throughout the world. Pride was the 2nd busiest parade season of the year for Wells Fargo in 2007 — the stagecoach appeared at twelve Pride Parades throughout the nation.
Wells Fargo views its support of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender (LGBT) community as part of its broader commitment to diversity. Since 1852, Wells Fargo has worked to serve the needs of diverse communities through financial services, career opportunities and support of community organizations. Wells Fargo's commitment to the LGBT community dates back to the 1980s. Wells Fargo has been recognized by the LGBT community with several awards and distinctions, including:
Out and Equal Workplace Advocates: Workplace Excellence Award (2007).
Human Rights Campaign : Perfect score of 100 on Corporate Equality Index (2003-2007).
DiversityInc. Magazine : Top 50 Companies for Diversity (2004-2007); Top Ten Companies for LGBT Employees (2003).
Commercial Closet : Image in Advertising Award for "Best Interactive/Online Campaign" (2006).
PlanetOut Advertising Award: Finance Industry Category Leadership Awards (2006).
Advocate Magazine : Top 10 Workplaces for LGBT Employees (2000).
GLAAD : Fairness Award (2000).
Wells Fargo celebrates the diversity in our communities. Happy Pride!
Juneteenth is a celebration that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865, Union Army troops landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War had ended.
This was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation , which took effect on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
The Emancipation Proclamation, despite its enduring greatness, had some practical limitations. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, not to Union states where slavery still existed, nor parts of the Confederacy that were under Union control. It was also an Act issued by President Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army and Navy — the freedom it promised ultimately depended upon a Union victory.
So the Emancipation Proclamation was unenforceable in slave states during the war. Millions of African Americans in Confederate states were deprived of freedom.
But with the end of the Civil War, the Proclamation took effect everywhere. Enslaved Americans were free at last.
On June 19th, 1865, two months after the war ended, soldiers commanded by Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston with the news: Freedom for African Americans in Texas was officially proclaimed. Juneteenth celebrations followed in ensuing years, as many former slaves and their descendants made a pilgrimage back to Galveston on the date. The gatherings began as a time for reassurance and prayer in Jim Crow times, and helped bring family members together.
In the recent past, a number Juneteenth Organizations have emerged with the purposes of promoting official recognition of the holiday, and to cultivate knowledge and participation in African-American history and culture. Although Juneteenth has been celebrated since 1865, it wasn't until 1979 that Texas became the first state to make it an official state holiday.
It may have started with Emancipation, but Juneteenth has evolved into much more — for African Americans the holiday honors memory and family, and celebrates freedom, culture, and achievement.
Saturday was the 50th anniversary, to the day, of Wells Fargo's Stagecoach Appearance Program. It was a big hoo ha in Hayward, California.
Here's some vid! We hope you enjoy it. (You can Ignore the guy in red... )
On June 14, 1958, Wells Fargo arranged to have "Sport" Fellingham drive a stagecoach at the opening of a Wells Fargo branch in Hayward, California. That Saturday afternoon, Fellingham's stagecoach, outriders and two Buick automobiles paraded through Hayward. It was the first appearance of thousands that have followed in the 50 years since.
At 1:30 p.m., the parade began at Wells Fargo's temporary branch. On board the coach were Sport Fellingham at the reins, his eight-year-old son Paul and two "guardians of the transferring funds," bank officers O'Brien and Seider. Riding beside Sport and toting a shotgun, TV star Dale Robertson waved to the crowd and lent importance to the event as only a TV star can.
Robertson, star of the popular TV series Tales of Wells Fargo, was enjoying the success of his NBC series, which continued for another three years until 1961.
At the luncheon preceding the parade, Wells Fargo president I.W. Hellman III noted the marketing windfall of Robertson's portrayal of Wells Fargo man Jim Hardie: "The TV show has been a fine thing for the bank. It has made our name a household word throughout the country!"
With driver, bankers and celebrity in place, the stagecoach picked up a treasure box and rolled through downtown Hayward to the new branch at 2nd and "A" Streets. Hellman and Hayward Councilman John Purchio delivered short speeches that celebrated the opening. Robertson delivered the treasure box to branch manager Don Wharton, and Hellman presented keys to the new building.
Wharton opened the treasure box and removed the bags of money packed there. "Let's take our funds into the bank!" he cried, then opened the bank's door and led everyone inside.
Employees of the new branch served refreshments, directed customers to exhibits inside, and helped open new accounts. Robertson, meanwhile, held court behind the teller stand. He signed autographs and handed out Agent's badges to the crowd of several hundred in attendance.
The event was a resounding success and Wells Fargo publicity people knew they had a sure bet on their hands — they planned three more events that year.
On June 14, 1958, Wells Fargo Bank launched a new era in public relations — the bank presented a stagecoach on parade at the opening of a new branch office in Hayward, California . A historic stagecoach from Wells Fargo had been seen before at events, but that appearance in 1958 was the first of a full-fledged program to get coaches out in public on a regular schedule.
In earlier years, Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express had put historic stagecoaches in parades and other events. After 1929, Wells Fargo Bank had a stagecoach on display at its San Francisco Headquarters, which rolled out at special events: the opening of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge, and an appearance in the film "Union Pacific." (That historic stagecoach is still on display in Wells Fargo's San Francisco History Museum.) It was always popular; but in those years, it wasn't properly dignified for a bank to advertise so evidently.
In the 1950s, that changed. Banks advertised like any other business wanting to attract customers. Wells Fargo publicity people liked the idea of sharing the Company's long heritage with interested crowds, and recognized its value as an effective marketing tool. The intention was to restore historic stagecoaches for use "by the bank at branch openings, at fairs and rodeos." The program was originally confined to Northern California communities where Wells Fargo had offices.
The program was a complete success, and Wells Fargo pressed forward with the idea. A second historic coach was put into service in 1961, then another in 1968. The first of ten coaches, entirely hand-built by Jay Lambert, appeared in 1970. "Hand-built "means exactly that — every square inch, from the ground up, wheels and iron and leather! That year, the Program had coaches in 69 appearances. Since then, there have been thousands of appearances, before hundreds of millions of people. Wells Fargo stagecoaches have appeared in a Presidential inaugural parade and at the Calgary Stampede , and an annual appearance at the Tournament of Roses Parade. Last year, there were 760 appearances before an audience of 22 million people.
Just as it did in the Golden Age of stagecoaches, Wells Fargo works with the very best drivers in its Stagecoach Appearance Program. The Fellingham family has been in the Program since the very beginning, and there are currently 22 drivers, and 25 coaches, from 13 ranches across North America.
In a 1992 television commercial for Wells Fargo, four stagecoaches rode abreast into Sonora, California . Seven stagecoaches total conquered "Main Street" that day, and witnesses remember the sound and feel of 96 thundering hooves.
They got the shot in one take.
On June 14, 1958, Wells Fargo Bank experimented with a new public relations idea. The bank arranged with Alfred D. "Sport" Fellingham to drive a borrowed mudwagon to the opening of Wells Fargo Bank's new office in Hayward, California . Sport Fellingham was a Livermore, California cattleman and director of the Livermore Rodeo . He borrowed the coach from the Rodeo Association, and the event was planned.
On the day of the first appearance, Sport supplied four Belgian horses with complete harnesses, and two outriders . He delivered the full retinue with his own truck and trailer. The Stagecoach with Sport "up" (driving the team of 4 horses), outriders and two Buicks paraded from the bank's temporary quarters and made their way to the new building. Aboard the coach with Sport were his eight-year-old son Paul and two bank officers. Dale Robertson , star of the popular TV series Tales of Wells Fargo rode "shotgun" beside Sport.
The event was a complete success. Sport and the Stagecoach appeared in three more events that year, with more planned each year.
Sport Fellingham passed away in 1965, but the Fellingham family continued at the reins for the Stagecoach program. His wife, Virginia, took center stage, driving the first horse-drawn vehicle across the Golden Gate Bridge and the stagecoach in President Nixon's 1972 Inaugural Parade . For over forty years, she presented the stagecoach to millions of people.
As more coaches joined the fleet and Wells Fargo's geography expanded, Sport and Virginia's daughter, Patsy, took the reins as well. And in 1975, Paul Fellingham drove his first Wells Fargo stagecoach at an event in Walnut Creek, California — seventeen years after he rode with his father at that first Stagecoach Appearance Program event in Hayward. Since then, Paul has driven in hundreds of appearances.
As Wells Fargo's Stagecoach Appearance Program celebrates its 50th year in 2008, there are several factors in its long-term success. There is a human factor, a connection with every person who sees the coach and appreciates its symbol and its grace.
But the dearest factor is our long relationship with the Fellingham family, and the skill they deliver each and every time they take the reins.
June 6 is an important date in history. The Great Seattle Fire happened in 1889, Chrysler Corporation was formed in 1925, and the first drive-in theater opened in 1933. This is also D-Day , the Allied invasion of France in 1944 that turned the tide of World War II.
On June 6, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy died in Los Angeles from bullet wounds suffered the night before. He had just won the California primary and was poised to become the Democratic Party's candidate for President. But he was assassinated, and the nation once again endured the funeral of a hero: President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the three Apollo Astronauts in 1967, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , only two months before RFK's death.
Robert Kennedy was especially popular with people who felt they had been forgotten by government. His message was of peace and the American promise of making a good life for oneself, no matter what one's background. His death was mourned by so many because they felt his message was straight to them . And it likely was: Kennedy's genuineness has been largely documented.
Another message straight to the hearts and minds of ordinary people took effect on June 6, 1978. Proposition 13 in California was the key historic moment of "taxpayer revolt" fever. Within a few years, tax reform movements popped up all over the country, reducing tax burdens and tax revenues — but increasing the tension between private property and public responsibility. The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was greatly motivated by the attitude that government had not only forgotten ordinary people, but was contemptuous of them.
In the news right now, Senator Barack Obama's candidacy for President has a key message of renewing America's promise, which has excited millions. Meanwhile, a message in Senator John McCain's candidacy warns people to guard against the imperious reach of big government and it's appetite for taxes.
All today, June 6. A strong point in any argument that the more things change, the more things stay the same .
Putting the customer first is the obvious way to success, but some people never get it. A 1909 incident with the Great Northern Express Co. in Butte, Montana, demonstrates this.
A huge produce firm in Butte asked the Great Northern to ship bananas to nearby Anaconda, Montana . Ten bunches, weighing perhaps 100 pounds each, came encased in upright carriers. However, the expressman laid them on their sides, which bruised the fruit.
When the consignee objected, the Anaconda agent told him he did not have enough wagons to handle the bananas differently, the express company’s profit from the banana shipment was miniscule anyway, and if the consignee did not like they way Great Northern did it, he could take his business elsewhere.
The manager in Butte of the growers, packers, jobbers, fruits, and produce firm "certainly spit fire today," the Great Northern agent reported to his supervisor. He "stated that we would never get a pound of business that he could keep from us."
A month after the incident, the Great Northern supervisor replied — unrepentant. He declared that if the shipper "feels that some other Company can handle his Anaconda business to better advantage, then he had better give them a trial." This was a customer who had a very heavy oyster business and controlled a wholesale grocery company, a produce company, a fruit company, and several smaller groceries. All perishable, all shipped at premium rates. In short, a great client.
Appropriately, a new express arrived in Anaconda and Butte in 1909: Wells Fargo & Company Express!
Looking around the Archives last week, I found an account ledger with some of George Hearst's entries made at the First National Bank of Deadwood, South Dakota . His famous son and the family fortune have moved George Hearst to a "supporting role" in history, but the Hearst family saga begins with George
Born in 1820 and nicknamed "Boy-That-Earth-Talks-To" because he had a knack for finding ore, Hearst came to California in the Gold Rush and made his way. But it was the Comstock Lode in Nevada where George's innate talent made him wealthy a decade later.
With his riches, Hearst bought land in San Simeon that would later be developed to a fantastic extent by his son, the memorable William Randolph Hearst , whose newspaper empire began with the San Francisco Examiner , which the elder Hearst acquired in 1880. Six years later, George was appointed to the United States Senate.
George Hearst formed a partnership with James Haggin and Lloyd Tevis, fabled landowners and entrepreneurs. Tevis was Wells Fargo's President from 1872-92, the longest presidential tenure in Wells Fargo's history. The partnership soon became the largest mining concern in the world. When gold was discovered in the Black Hills , the three men purchased the legendary Homestake Mine in 1877.
While in Deadwood , Hearst kept accounts in the First National Bank, which eventually became part of the Wells Fargo family of banks in 1998.
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