Valley National Bank of Arizona was a bank based in
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
, founded in 1900 and acquired by
Bank One
Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2 ...
in 1992. The bank was one of Arizona's leading financial institutions during the 20th century and the last major independent bank in Arizona at the time of its acquisition.
History
Formation and early development
![ProfessionalBldg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/ProfessionalBldg.JPG)
The history of Valley National Bank can be traced back to the establishment of the Gila Valley Bank in
Solomonville, Arizona
Solomon is a census-designated place in Graham County, Arizona, United States. Its population was 399 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Demographics
As of the 2010 census Solomon had a populatio ...
, in Graham County, on January 16, 1900. The primary shareholder of the Gila Valley Bank was town founder Isadore Solomon, who established the town to support the area's copper mines. The bank was well-positioned to contribute to nearby communities in Arizona's copper mining country, such as
Safford,
Morenci and
Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
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*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
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Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
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*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
.
Charles E. Mills was bank president and became the bank's majority shareholder by 1908.
The Valley Bank, another predecessor to Valley National Bank, was a Phoenix-based institution that primarily served agricultural businesses. In 1914, overlending left Valley Bank short on capital, and fearing a run on the bank, shareholders closed the bank in November. They turned to Gila Valley Bank, asking that institution to assist Valley Bank; Mills engineered a bailout with Gila Valley purchasing some Valley Bank assets, and in 1922, the two formally merged forming the Valley Bank of Arizona, led by Mills until his death in 1929. It was renamed The Valley Bank and Trust Company and continued to grow by mergers; upon its 1935 merger with
Consolidated National Bank of Tucson
The Valley National Bank Building is the oldest skyscraper in Tucson, Arizona.William Ascarza, ''Tucson Mountains, Arizona'', Arcadia Publishing, 201/ref> It was built in 1929 by Percy A. Eisen (1885–1946) and Albert R. Walker (1881–1958). ...
, the institution became known as Valley National Bank of Arizona.
In 1932, Valley Bank built a headquarters for the expanding company in conjunction with the Maricopa County Medical Society, the
Professional Building. In 1939, Valley Bank took over the entire building; from 1958 to 1972, a large rotating Valley National Bank neon sign adorned the structure.
The Great Depression and Walter Bimson
The Great Depression hurt Valley Bank severely. In 1933, many banks nationwide were closing their doors. Meanwhile, Walter Bimson, the son of a blacksmith who had studied economics and was working at Harris Trust and Savings Bank in Chicago, traveled to the Southwest and was impressed with the region. In that year, Valley Bank hired Bimson as its president.
Bimson's banking policy broke with conventional wisdom. Amidst the depression, he instructed bank personnel to continue lending, believing that adequate funds existed in the communities but that lending would be the spark needed to restart the economy. These policies began to put Valley Bank at the forefront. Within a year after coming to Arizona, Valley Bank was the first in Arizona to become a member of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is one of two agencies that supply deposit insurance to depositors in American depository institutions, the other being the National Credit Union Administration, which regulates and insures cred ...
, and it was one of the first to provide government-guaranteed home loans; in 1936, one
Miami, Arizona
Miami (Western Apache: Goshtłʼish Tú) is a town in Gila County, Arizona, United States. Miami is a classic Western copper boom-town. Miami's old downtown has been partly renovated, and the Bullion Plaza Museum features the cultural, minin ...
, furniture company credited the government's FHA programs and Valley National Bank for a 60% increase in business.
Bimson's policies made Valley National Bank a success; he remained the bank's driving figure until 1952, and stayed on as chairman of the board until 1970.
Postwar expansion
![Valley National Bank While Under Construction](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Valley_National_Bank_While_Under_Construction.jpg)
With the postwar growth of Arizona, Valley National Bank expanded as well. It built branches throughout the rapidly expanding Phoenix metropolitan area and the rest of the state. In a 1961 article in the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', Arizona senator
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
characterized the bank's growth as one that "parallels the explosive progress of Arizona".
In 1972, it built the
Valley Center in downtown Phoenix, which remains the tallest building in the state of Arizona; in 1981, it opened its 200th branch, in Solomonville, the town where the bank began. At the same time, it was a pioneer in banking services; it was the first bank in Arizona to issue a credit card in 1965 and the pioneer of direct deposits for
Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
in 1973, a program that was taken nationwide two years later. It also was early with drive-in banking branches and in issuing photo IDs to customers.
Interstate banking activities
The
savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s initially caused major losses at Valley National, which lost $149 million in 1989. The bank rebounded, and posted positive earnings in 1990 ($7.5 million) and 1991 ($34.6 million).
To enable expansion into neighboring states, Valley National Bank reorganized as a holding company called Valley National Corporation on July 1, 1981.
In its first expansion move, Valley National Corp. purchased
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
-based California Valley Bank
and
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
,
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
-based Valley Utah Bancorp
in 1987. The acquisitions were not renamed. At the time of merger with Valley Utah, Valley National Bank had 250 branch offices in Arizona and Valley Utah had 35 branches in Utah.
By 1988, Valley National halted their interstate expansion plans due to troubled foreign loans in its portfolio.
Within a year, its cash flow was severe enough that Valley National was seriously considering selling its out-of-state bank holdings.
To economize, less-productive branch offices were closed. Within a few months, the real estate market recovered enough that Valley National decided to retain its out-of-state banks.
Bank One Arizona
On April 14, 1992, Valley National Corp. announced its merger with
Bank One
Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2 ...
for $1.2 billion ($ in dollars) in stock.
At the time of the merger, it had 206 Arizona branches, plus 35 in Utah (where it operated as Valley Bank and Trust Company of Utah) and seven in California (under the name California Valley Bank), and it held $11 billion in assets. The merger was finalized on March 31, 1993, and the holding companies Valley National Corp. became Banc One Arizona and Valley Utah Bancorp became Banc One Utah. The banks Valley National Bank became Bank One Arizona,
Valley Bank and Trust became Bank One Utah,
and California Valley Bank became Bank One Fresno. Within two years of the merger, Banc One withdrew from California by selling Bank One Fresno to ValliCorp Holdings, the holding company of Valliwide Bank, formerly the Bank of Fresno.
In May 1994,
Banc One Corporation
Bank One Corporation was an American banks in the United States, bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorg ...
increased their holdings in Arizona by acquiring the 58 of 60 Arizona offices of the failed
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
-based
Great American Bank
Great American Bank was an American savings and loan association based in San Diego. It was founded in 1885 as San Diego Building and Loan Association, the first S&L in Southern California. Until the 1980s, it operated for decades as San Diego Fe ...
from the
Resolution Trust Corporation
The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) was a U.S. government-owned asset management company run by Lewis William Seidman and charged with liquidating assets, primarily real estate-related assets such as mortgage loans, that had been assets ...
for $49.36 million.
The newly acquired offices were added to the Banc One Arizona holding company and integrated into Bank One Arizona.
Some Valley National Bank branches and offices, including Valley Center (now known as Chase Tower), are still occupied by Bank One's successor,
Chase
Chase or CHASE may refer to:
Businesses
* Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York
* Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company
* Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England
* Chase Co ...
.
Historic buildings
Four buildings associated with Valley National Bank are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in Arizona:
*The
Gila Valley Bank and Trust Building
The Gila Valley Bank and Trust Building is a former bank building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Globe, Arizona. It was built in 1909 to house the bank, later known as Valley National Bank of Arizona, and it was listed on th ...
in
Globe
A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...
, constructed in 1909
*The
Valley National Bank Building in Tucson, constructed in 1929 for Consolidated National Bank of Tucson and the oldest skyscraper in the city
*The
Professional Building in Phoenix, home of The Valley Bank and Trust/Valley National Bank from 1932 to 1972
*The
Valley National Bank branch in Casa Grande, constructed in 1950
Art
Valley National Bank retained a large art collection, displayed at its offices and branch locations, until the bank's 1992 acquisition. By then, the collection featured 3,500 pieces and was large enough that the art was displayed on every floor of Valley Center (including in the building's Walter Reed Bimson Gallery of Art), in every Valley National Bank branch, and additionally filled a large warehouse; the bank also employed an art curator. The collection was sold off by Bank One upon its acquisition of Valley National, and the pieces are in the hands of museums, private collectors, and with JPMorgan Chase in Manhattan.
References
{{Authority control
Defunct banks of the United States
Banks established in 1900
Banks disestablished in 1992
Companies based in Phoenix, Arizona
JPMorgan Chase
Banks based in Arizona
1992 mergers and acquisitions
American companies established in 1900
American companies disestablished in 1997
Defunct companies based in Arizona