1900's
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1903
Wells Fargo introduces Travelers Cheques to their customer for its convenience and safety. It was advertised that if you use travelers cheques then you were considered modern and ahead of the game.
1906
The merger with Nevada National Bank A year earlier, Wells Fargo owner, Edward Harriman decided to focus on the express business exclusively and sold the banking division to I.W. Hellman creating the Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank with their headquarters in San Francisco.
April 18, 1906
A disastrous earthquake rocked Northern California, but worse than the earthquake, was the Great Fire of 1906. One of the victims of the fire was the Wells Fargo Nevada National building. The next day a telegram was sent to the board in New York, which basically stated that the building was destroyed, vault intact and credit unaffected. Business went on as usual, when they established an office out of the house of assistant teller E.S. Heller who lived at 2020 Jackson Street. Martial law was declared on the city. The bank eventually rebuilt itself in San Francisco and in the meantime Wells Fargo Banking and Express had over 10,000 offices and 30,000 employees.
1912-1918
Wells Fargo published the "Wells Fargo Messenger" whose covers often depicted new innovations in the modes of transportation. The publication was popular among employees of Wells Fargo and a small percentage of the public who were interested, but it was mostly for the reading pleasure of the agents.
1918 WWI & The End of the Express
The Wells Fargo express business was nationalized by the U.S. government as a war measure and Wells Fargo was left with just one banking office in San Francisco with eighty employees. The bank still prospered with investments and paying regular dividends even through the coming of the Great Depression. The federal government assumed the operation of the nation's railroads and express as a wartime measure. They functioned as the American Railway Express and were a combination of Wells Fargo, American Express, Southern Express and all other express companies. The wartime measure ended the era in American transportation history. The Railway Express agency continued until 1972 and as we all know, American Express built on financial services for their travelers. Wells Fargo did the same, turning to traditional services like receiving deposits, making loans and issuing letters of credit.
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