Last week, Ryan Baum began an historical explanation of Wells Fargo's National Bank charter number. Something this esoteric shouldn't make for an interesting read. But Ryan, a serious collector of coins and currency since he was a kid, has found the story to have as many twists and turns and mysteries as a detective story. (CR)
As I wrote earlier, National Banks were set up in 1863 to regulate and stabilize American currency. The OCC 
issued charters and the very first went to First National Bank of Philadelphia. That story is one I will revisit in a later blog — this is the charter currently used by Wachovia Bank, NA. I purchased a bank note with the number P1741 and I was motivated to find the story behind it.
In 1879 the Federal Government began to honor its debts again in gold or silver , so the distinction between government bonds and gold became less important. The following year, National Gold Banks were allowed to convert their Gold Bank charter to a regular National Bank charter. The First National Gold Bank of San Francisco took advantage of this option and changed its name to First National Bank of San Francisco on February 25, 1884.
The First National Bank of San Francisco was located at 403 Montgomery Street. After several moves, and the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, First National erected a new headquarters at 1 Montgomery Street. This location was the gateway to Montgomery Street from Market Street, and was a powerful intersection — Wells Fargo Nevada National and Crocker National Bank were neighbors....
In 1925, First National Bank of San Francisco merged with Crocker First National Bank and retained the more ornate location at 1 Montgomery Street as headquarters. Crocker had received OCC Charter #3555 when it originally formed as Crocker-Woolworth National Bank in 1886.
In the simpler days, before extensive computer systems and multi-currency general ledgers, banks would take the lower charter number when two merged in order to maintain the prestige of the lower number and earlier date. Consequently, the new organization continued to use charter #1741 on January 1, 1926.
Over the following decades, Crocker First went on to merge with many other organizations, including Anglo-California (OCC #9174) and Citizens National Bank of Los Angeles (OCC #5927). Each of these institutions had also merged with dozens of other institutions during the roaring 20's, the consolidations of the 30's, and post-World War II suburban booms. But the Crocker organization retained charter #1741 all along.
In what was then hailed as a transformational event for the banking industry, Wells Fargo & Co acquired Crocker National in 1986. True to past tradition, Wells Fargo elected to retain the lower charter number of 1741.
So through this abbreviated outline, we find that the bank note I acquired on a whim was issued by the same legal entity that today survives as Wells Fargo Bank, NA!
I have begun an informal effort to track California national banks that issued national currency and that subsequently merged into Wells Fargo's family of entities. The difficulty for any researcher is getting a complete set of data: Collectors of national bank notes have documented well bank mergers up to 1935, the last year that banks were authorized to issue national currency.
Likewise, the FDIC and Federal Reserve have online databases, but these only go back to 1959. So there is a 24-year period that is difficult to confirm — but not impossible.
In future blogs I'll explore in more detail some of the fascinating history of individual banks that have folded into, and become part of, Wells Fargo.
Terrific, Ryan. A wealth of historical information. Hopefully, a book is in the works?
Question, prior to 1935 was the federal government also issuing its own paper money as they do now, or were national banks the only entities printing paper money? Also, would my 20 dollar bill issued by Crocker be good anywhere in the US?
The Federal Government made its first issue of Demand Notes in 1861. With their greenback to thwart primitive copying techniques of the time, we came up with the term "Greenbacks" still in use today.
Over the years the Federal Government has issued many different types of notes including Legal Tender Notes, Coin Notes, Gold Certificates, Silver Certificates, and United States Notes. The only current money in circulation are Federal Reserve Notes.
Your $20 bill issued by Crocker is still legal tender anywhere in the United States but would be worth more than face value to collectors. Hey, why not use this to start your own collection?
it is all so intersting....maybe I will start my collection