Wells Fargo Research Paper

Wells Fargo has been in business for over 160 years and was founded on March 18, 1852, by Henry Wells and William Fargo. The company opened its first office, in San Francisco, on July 1852. Wells Fargo served the West with banking needs, which included gold and paper bank drafts, and offered quick delivery of gold or other valuables. In1855, the first of many financial dilemmas took place when a drought made it impossible to mine for gold, and this caused almost 200 businesses in San Francisco to fail, but Wells Fargo didn’t fail, they prospered. In the early1860s, Wells Fargo acquired almost all the stage lines from the Missouri River to California, giving them a monopoly on transcontinental delivery services. At the end of the 1860s, Wells

The "Treaty of Omaha," marked the transfer of control over the revitalized Wells Fargo Bank. Wells Fargo's express service ended in 1918 with the merger of the three big express companies forming the American Railway Express. In 1967 Wells Fargo, together with three other California banks, introduced a Master Charge card to its customers as part of its plan to succeed. Wells Fargo’s vision and values have always been to help customers succeed financially, and they have done this by reinventing themselves over and over again. The red and gold Concord stagecoach is Wells Fargo's corporate symbol. J. Stephens Abbot and Lewis Downing built the Concord stagecoach, which was built high and wide to handle rough terrain, and had a curved frame for strength and elbow room as the stagecoaches could carry nine passengers inside and six outside, including driver and shotgun messenger. The stagecoaches weighed about 2,500 pounds with a cost of $1,100. At that time transportation was mostly by sea, and stagecoaches connected communities as the United States grew. Stagecoaches could go to places where there was no other transportation. Stagecoaches were pivotal in the success of Wells Fargo’s express business, and the expansion of their

Stagecoaches carried news, mail, and passengers where trains did not go. Stagecoaches are a symbol of the Wells Fargo image, heritage, and values, which they strive to present it to communities. In 1958, Wells Fargo Bank presented a stagecoach on parade, and today Wells Fargo stagecoaches can still be seen in parades. The original Abbot-Downing Concord Coaches are displayed in the Wells Fargo history museums and exhibits across the country. Wells Fargo today is the result of more than 1,500 mergers. The bank has over 70 million customers and 263,000 team members. It has over 9,000 stores and offices in every state and serves more communities than any other bank in the United States. It is the largest residential mortgage originator and servicer, funding nearly one in four domestic mortgages in the second quarter in 2017. Wells Fargo has contributed more than 286.5 million to over 14,500 nonprofits last year. It is the largest employer that gives to the United Way. Their employees have volunteered over 2 million hours to help those in need. They have given out over 38 million in grants and loans which they distributed to 30 Community Development Financial Institutions, and these grants and loans help support diverse