On Saturday, November 7, 19 Wachovia Bank stores in Colorado will convert to the Wells Fargo brand. Although Colorado is the first state where Wachovia signs will disappear, Wells Fargo is not a newcomer to the Centennial State.
On November 1, 1866 Wells Fargo, took over the operation of the major stagecoach routes west of the Missouri River. This "Grand Consolidation" was with Denver-based Holladay 
Overland Mail & Express Company.
Wells Fargo already operated stage companies, but the merger with Holladay’s network spread Wells Fargo stagecoach operations across 4,000 miles of territory. The Company covered the Rocky Mountains, and stretched from the Great Plains to the Pacific.
Wells Fargo was founded in New York in 1852, as a joint-stock association, the usual formation of that era. With the 1866 consolidation, the Company filed incorporation papers in the Colorado Territory in 1866.
Wells Fargo & Company operated under its Colorado charter for a century.
From the corner of 'F' and Holladay Streets in downtown Denver, Wells Fargo stagecoaches rolled out in all directions—north on the Overland route via Ft. Bridger and Boulder to Salt Lake City; west to the mines of Central City and Georgetown; and northeast to meet the transcontinental railhead as it advanced from Nebraska.
As with its California Gold Rush beginnings, a good portion of Wells Fargo’s business was transporting gold, silver, and currency.
And as in California a decade ealier, Wells Fargo entered the banking business in Denver. A local newspaper told Coloradoans that Wells Fargo could now "attend to their business to the ends of the earth if required."
By the following summer, three Wells Fargo stagecoaches arrived or departed Denver every day, with passengers, news and mail....
When railroad construction had reached Julesburg, stagecoach connection with Denver took 33 hours. Passengers paid $50.25 for the trip, and added $60 if they continued by train to Chicago.
After the Transcontinental Railroad was finished, the Iron Horse overtook the stagecoach for passengers and express. (Stagecoach service did not end, of course.)
More and more, Wells Fargo Express rode the rails. By 1874, Wells Fargo had 19 Colorado locations including Colorado Springs, Golden, Greeley and Pueblo. Service extended to Trinidad, La Junta and other communities in southeastern Colorado.
Wells Fargo advertised reasonable rates, quick time, and courteous treatment. And that’s exactly what Wells Fargo agents delivered, like Miss Frances G. Curran at Holley’s, John L. Hopkins in Pueblo, and R. J. McIntyre in Colorado Springs. Denver’s general agent, J. L. Stubbs, served Wells Fargo for 33 years.
In 1916, Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express carried over $53.6 million of Colorado gold and silver, while refrigerated railroad cars rushed Colorado beans, cantaloupes, celery, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes to distant markets.
Some Wells Fargo agents went the extra mile: In December, 1914, a blizzard hit Colorado on payday for soldiers stationed in camps near Trinidad. Agent E. C. Whittlesey waded through snow drifts to reach the encampments, and brought a supply of money orders so that soldiers could send money home. Ninety-six soldiers purchased the money orders, and another eight provided Whittlesey with an armed escort back to Trinidad.
In 1918, the Federal Government took over the nation’s major express companies as a wartime measure, and Wells Fargo Express signs disappeared from Colorado storefronts and depots. But in 1996, Wells Fargo returned to Colorado.
Just as they did over 140 years ago, Wells Fargo and Colorado prosper today, and continue to grow together
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