When was Wells Fargo Bank founded?

Wells, founder of Wells and Company, and Fargo, a partner in Livingston, Fargo and Company, were major figures in the young and fiercely competitive express industry. In 1849 a new rival, John Warren Butterfield, entered the express business. Butterfield, Wells, and Fargo soon realized that their competition was destructive and wasteful, and in 1850 they decided to join forces to form the American Express Company.

Soon after the company was formed, Wells, the first president of American Express, and Fargo, its vice-president, proposed expanding their business to California. Fearing that American Express's most powerful rival, Adams and Company, would acquire a monopoly in the West, the majority of the directors balked. Undaunted, Wells and Fargo decided to start their own business while continuing to fulfill their responsibilities at American Express. In March 1852 they organized Wells, Fargo & Company, a joint stock company, to provide express and banking services to California.