On March 18, 1852, a group of businessmen gathered in the Astor House hotel 
on Broadway in New York City. The purpose of their meeting? Forming a new company to conduct banking business and provide express transportation service on the Pacific Coast.
March 18 marks the 157th birthday of Wells Fargo & Company. Between them, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo had decades of experience as successful entrepreneurs, and both men saw great opportunity in the growing West.
But when they couldn't convince their fellow founders and directors of the American Express Company to expand the business out to the gold fields of California, Wells and Fargo assembled a group of investors who contributed $300,000 in start-up capital to form Wells, Fargo & Co.
Wells and Fargo chose experienced banker Reuben Washburn and express industry veteran Samuel P. Carter to represent their new company in San Francisco. It took the men a month to travel west by steamship, and three months more to set up shop before Wells, Fargo & Co. opened its doors on Montgomery Street July 13, 1852.
Nearly 4 million ounces of gold would flow from California's mines that year, almost all of it shipped east. Miners wanting to send funds to families left behind on the East Coast came to Wells Fargo's banking counter to buy an exchange that could be cashed in New York, Boston, and dozens of other eastern cities, including Albany, Hartford, Cincinnati, Louisville, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Montreal and Toronto. The company's first customer on opening day purchased an exchange note sending $100 to Mrs. Sophie Parker of Buffalo, New York.
These exchanges and the gold to back them went east by steamer twice a month. On the night before the steamer sailed, Wells Fargo's office in San Francisco stayed open until midnight to accommodate customers' business. "Not a man sleeps the night before the steamer leaves," wrote Henry Wells, who in February, 1853 took a turn manning the late-night banking counter himself.
One hundred and fifty-seven years later, though the size of the building has changed, the company headquarters of Wells Fargo & Company is on virtually that same spot on Montgomery Street where Wells Fargo began in 1852.
And while I don't know if Henry Wells and William Fargo could conceive of their business (not to mention their names) growing as big as it is today, their commitment to helping our customers succeed financially remains the same as it did when a tired but satisfied Henry Wells wrote by oil lamp in 1853: "This is a great country and a greater people."
Are you going to open any Wells Fargo museums in any 'former Wachovia' cities like Charlotte, Atlanta, or Philadelphia?
@David - Thank you so much for your comment and interest in our museums! Unfortunately, we not 100% sure when we might open up any new ones – but we are very excited about the opportunity to present and share our history in new cities, and hope to be able to do so at some point in the future!
I understand that the purpose of this blog is to keep customers updated on the integration of Wells Fargo and Wachovia. However, I do not feel updated at all. Instead of posting good publicity articles on the history of Wells Fargo, post some of the ideas that Wells is looking to introduce to the former Wachovia customers. I know integration is a long, slow process. I have been through it before with the First Union/ Wachovia merger. Unfortunately, Wells is not doing as good a job as Wachovia/First Union did; and that's making me question if I want to be a Wells customer. Personally, I wish Wells let Citi take Wachovia. Citi is a name I know and have seen everywhere unlike Wells. In short, Wells' history does not matter to me; what they plan to do in the future does. Give the customers more information to the kinds of services they can look forward to. Finally, do not feel that you need to make things super simple. If there is something a customer does not understand, there are plenty of search engines available to explain it.
I would like to know bank locations in Bridgeport
Developing and executing integration plans takes literally thousands of checklist items. I'm sure you will tell us when you are ready. Patience is truly a virtue.
As a history buff, I enjoy the history lesson on Wells Fargo. It truly is a company that is intertwined with the expansion westward of our country.
I do think it would be fun for you to drive the stagecoach right past Bank of America's headquarters in Charlotte on the day you integrate in NC.
I am an old timer and have gone through many "integrations" that led from C&S Bank of SC to Bank of America over a decade. I was a customer of C&S for decades and was satisfied with B of A until a couple of years ago when they bought credit card company MBMA where I had been a customer for 13 years. They dropped some of the best features of the MBNA system but more importantly they decided to eliminate MBNA completely and use their card. They blew the move and for two weeks left their customers completely in the dark on what was happening to their accounts. You could not see any activity nor check balances, etc. You could not get any help from phone or local office personnel. It was scary. I decided to go local where I can go to office and talk to the top management, if necessary. However, I did/do have a Wells Fargo account since I spend a lot of time in west and B of A had no presence in UT or Montana. I look forward to the Wachovia merger because I will now have a checking and saving account that covers most of the US; especially where I travel and a Wachovia office is not more than 2 miles from my east coast residence. I'm patient and I want them to take their time and do it right; especially systems integration - no lost contact for even a day let alone weeks.