Wells Fargo
Foundation of Wells Fargo
On
March 18,
1852, they organized Wells, Fargo & Company, a
joint-stock association with an initial capitalization of $300,000, to provide express and banking services to California. The original board of directors comprised Wells, Fargo,
Johnston Livingston,
Elijah P. Williams,
Edwin B. Morgan,
James McKay,
Alpheus Reynolds,
Alexander M.C. Smith and
Henry D. Rice. Of these, Wells, Fargo, Livingston and McKay were also on the board of American Express.
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Financier
Edwin B. Morgan of
Aurora, New York, was appointed Wells Fargo's first president. They commenced business May 20, 1852, the day their announcement appeared in
The New York Times. The company's arrival in
San Francisco was announced in the
Alta California of July 3, 1852. The immediate challenge facing Morgan and
Danford N. Barney, who became president in November 1853, was to establish the company in two highly competitive fields under conditions of rapid growth and unpredictable change. At the time, California regulated neither the banking nor the express industry, so both fields were wide open. Anyone with a wagon and team of horses could open an express company and all it took to open a bank was a safe and a room to keep it in. Because of its comparatively late entry into the California market, Wells Fargo faced well established competition in both fields.
From the beginning, the fledgling company offered diverse and mutually supportive services: general forwarding and commissions; buying and selling of gold dust, bullion, and specie (or coin); and freight service between New York and California. Under Morgan's and Barney's direction, express and banking offices were quickly established in key communities bordering the gold fields and a network of freight and messenger routes was soon in place throughout California. Barney's policy of subcontracting express services to established companies, rather than duplicating existing services, was a key factor in Wells Fargo's early success.
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Wells Fargo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
History of Wells Fargo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia