Boatmen's Bancshares Inc. was one of the 30 largest

bank holding companies A bank holding company is a Holding company, company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The Compound (linguistics), compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + ''corporation, corp

ration Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

') or banco ...

in the United States when it was acquired by

NationsBank NationsBank was one of the largest banking corporations in the United States, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company named NationsBank was formed through the merger of several other banks in 1991, and prior to that had been through mul ...

in 1996. Until its acquisition, Boatmen's traded on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

with the ticker BOAT. The company, founded in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, in 1847, claimed to be the oldest bank west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

at the time of its acquisition.

History

The bank was founded by George Knight Budd whose family had a fortune based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on the East Coast. He was to serve as St. Louis councilman and arranged for the purchase of the land that now forms the municipal building complex including the St. Louis City Hall. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 15. St. James Press, 1996 (via fundinguniverse.com)
/ref> According to company legend, Budd started Boatmen's Savings Institution to help the working class; many of whom worked on riverboats on the Mississippi. The bank received its state charter on February 16, 1847, and offered 3 percent interest on deposits and invested the first $1,000 in a city bond that paid 6 percent. Its early history was marked by deadly citywide disasters in 1849 of a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak that killed more than 1,000 and the Great St. Louis Fire of 1849 of May 17–18 that destroyed 23 steamers and at least 430 buildings. Compounding the bank's problems was the April 5, 1854, robbery in which the bank's secretary Joseph Thornton was implicated because the vault had been opened at night with a bank key. Testifying against him was Joseph Charless, president of the Bank of Missouri, who had received for deposit water and mud-soaked notes from Thornton. Thornton was acquitted but was to shoot and kill Charless on the street afterwards. Thornton was nearly lynched, and later hanged following a trial. According to company legend, a run on the bank in 1855 was halted when a madame from a bordello deposited $4,500 in gold. It became Boatmen's Saving Bank in 1873, Boatmen's Bank in 1890, and Boatmen's National Bank of St. Louis in 1926 when it became a national bank. In 1969, it formed Boatmen's Bancshares as a holding company and began an acquisition of banks throughout the region including CharterCorp of

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, and General Bancshares. In the 1980s, it became the largest bank group in Missouri with the acquisition of Centerre Bancorporation. In 1981, it moved its headquarters to the 31-story Boatmen's Bank Building in Downtown St. Louis. William H. T. Bush, younger brother of President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

, was president of the bank (but not the holding company) from 1978 to 1986. In early 1992, Boatmen's Bancshares acquired First Interstate of Iowa Inc. (NASDAQ: FIIA). In 1995 it had $33.4 billion in assets and 17,863 employees. That year, it acquired Fourth Financial Corporation and Worthen Banking Corp. The latter being a publicly traded company listed on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

. In 1996, it was purchased by

for $9.6 billion. NationsBank, in turn, merged with and took the name of

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

References

{{Authority control Bank of America legacy banks Banks established in 1847 Companies based in St. Louis Banks disestablished in 1996 Defunct banks of the United States 1847 establishments in Missouri