Bank of Italy NT & SA/Bank of America NT & SA, San Francisco, CA (Charter 13044)

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The Bank of Italy Building, also known as the Clay-Montgomery Building, is an eight-story building built in 1908 after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed the original bank building on Montgomery Avenue (now Columbus Avenue) in the nearby neighborhood of North Beach. The building, located at 550 Montgomery Avenue, became the headquarters of A.P. Giannini's Bank of Italy.
The Bank of Italy Building, also known as the Clay-Montgomery Building, is an eight-story building built in 1908 after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed the original bank building on Montgomery Avenue (now Columbus Avenue) in the nearby neighborhood of North Beach. The building, located at 550 Montgomery Avenue, became the headquarters of A.P. Giannini's Bank of Italy. Courtesy of Google Maps ca2023

Bank of Italy NT & SA/Bank of America NT & SA, San Francisco, CA (Chartered 1927 - Open past 1935)

Town History

Postcard of the old Bank of Italy, ca1910s. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous city in California, with 808,437 residents, and the 17th most populous city in the United States as of 2022.

San Francisco was founded on June 29, 1776, when settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate, and the Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time; between 1870 and 1900, approximately one quarter of California's population resided in the city proper. In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later.

San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred by leading universities, high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors. As of 2020, the metropolitan area, with 6.7 million residents, ranked 5th by GDP ($874 billion) and 2nd by GDP per capita ($131,082), ahead of global cities like Paris, London, and Singapore.

San Francisco had 21 National Banks chartered during the Bank Note Era, and all 21 of those banks issued National Bank Notes.

Bank History

Bank constructed 1921-22 for the Bank of Italy's head office at Market, Powell, and Eddy Streets, San Francisco
Bank constructed 1921-22 for the Bank of Italy's head office at Market, Powell, and Eddy Streets, San Francisco.
  • Organized February 26, 1927
  • Chartered March 1, 1927
  • Conversion of Bank of Italy, San Francisco, California, with 277 branches in California
  • Bank was Open past 1935
  • For Bank History after 1935 see FDIC Bank History website
  • Still in business as Bank of America, N.A. (October 2023)

Bank of America merged with NationsBank of Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1998. While NationsBank was the nominal survivor, the merged bank took the Bank of America name and operates under the original charter for Bank of Italy.

Construction of the new head office for the Bank of Italy at Market, Powell and Eddy Streets, San Francisco, was expected to be completed early in 1922. The building would house all of the executive departments and the main banking office. It would be 136 feet in height from the sidewalk level and was seven stories with a mezzanine floor in the main banking room. The basement would hold the coin, security and safe deposit vaults, the latter the largest west of Chicago.[1] In 1922, locations of the Bank of Italy's associated savings banks of San Francisco were: Headquarters at the Junction of Market, Powell and Eddy Streets; Montgomery Street branch, southeast corner Montgomery and Clay Streets; Market-Geary branch, junction Market, Geary and Kearny Streets; Mission Branch, 3246 Mission Street near 29th Street; Park-Presidio branch, 926 Clement St.; Polk-Van Ness branch, 1341 Polk Street; Eureka Valley Branch, corner 17th and Castro Streets. A.P. Giannini was president.[2]

List of absorbed national banks (1927-35) (incomplete)
Date Charter Absorbed Bank Location Title
Feb 21, 1927 12937 East Bay NB (No Issue) Oakland, CA 1
Feb 24, 1927 11720 First National Bank (No Issue) Manteca, CA 1
Mar 7, 1927 7705 American National Bank/NB/First NB Monrovia, CA 1
Mar 8, 1927 9935 Ontario National Bank Ontario, CA 1
Mar 8, 1927 11250 First National Bank of Arcadia, CA 1
Mar 8, 1927 12226 United States National Bank of Sawtelle, CA 1
Mar 10, 1927 11961 Roseville NB/First NB Roseville, CA 1
Mar 11, 1927 7895 Farmers and Merchants NB Redondo, CA 1
Mar 14, 1927 12364 Citizens National Bank South San Francisco, CA 1
Mar 15, 1927 6864 Commercial NB/Commercial NT & Sav Bank Los Angeles, CA 1
Mar 15, 1927 10133 First National Bank Winters, CA 1
Mar 15, 1927 11560 Fruit Growers National Bank Watsonville, CA 1
Mar 15, 1927 12453 First National Bank Sausalito, CA 1
Mar 17, 1927 10435 Union National Bank San Diego, CA 1
Mar 22, 1927 12856 New First National Bank Santa Paula, CA 1
Mar 22, 1927 13010 Commercial National Bank (No Issue) Berkeley, CA 1
Mar 29, 1927 12913 Commercial NB (No Issue) Santa Maria, CA 1
Mar 31, 1927 11532 Farmers and Merchants NB Mountain View, CA 1
Apr 5, 1927 12735 National Bank of Commerce Pasadena, CA 1
Apr 5, 1927 12893 Encinal National Bank Alameda, CA 1
Apr 12, 1927 8403 First National Bank Santa Cruz, CA 1
Apr 12, 1927 12511 National Bank Martinez, CA 1
Apr 19, 1927 12647 Beverly NB (No Issue) Beverly Hills, CA 1
Apr 23, 1927 11520 First National Bank (No Issue) Pescadero, CA 1
May 4, 1927 11359 First National Bank Pittsburg, CA 1
May 12, 1927 12802 San Leandro National Bank San Leandro, CA 1
Jul 26, 1927 9688 Reedley National Bank Reedley, CA 1
Sep 20, 1927 11853 American NB (No Issue)/First NB Modesto, CA 1
Nov 1, 1927 12306 First National Bank (No Issue) Hayward, CA 1
Dec 29, 1927 10150 Citizens National Bank Alameda, CA 1
Feb 9, 1928 11926 Central NB (No Issue) Pasadena, CA 1
Feb 21, 1928 7480 First National Bank Santa Maria, CA 1
Feb 28, 1928 5395 First National Bank Selma, CA 1
Apr 3, 1928 6945 Merchants National Bank Santa Monica, CA 1
Apr 3, 1928 10299 First National Bank Yuba City, CA 1
Mar 18, 1930 12454 Pacific National Bank Los Angeles, CA 1
Jan 6, 1931 5986 First National Bank Eureka, CA 2
Jan 13, 1931 12320 First National Bank Berkeley, CA 2
Jun 19, 1931 11123 First National Bank Marysville, CA 2
Jul 25, 1932 8490 First National Bank Alhambra, CA 2
Nov 22, 1932 9795 First National Bank Vacaville, CA 2
Mar 17, 1933 8143 First National Bank Redondo, CA 2
May 13, 1934 11206 Vallejo Commercial NB Vallejo, CA 2
Sep 20, 1934 9894 First National Bank Puente, CA 2
Oct 2, 1934 7152 First National Bank Cucamonga, CA 2
Oct 15, 1935 9479 McCloud National Bank McCloud, CA 2

Official Bank Titles

1: Bank of Italy National Trust and Savings Association, San Francisco, CA

2: Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, San Francisco, CA (11/1/1930)

Bank Note Types Issued

1902 Plain Back $100 bank note with SN 1 and printed signatures of R.B. Burmister, Cashier and James A. Bacigalupi, President.
1902 Plain Back $100 bank note with SN 1 and printed signatures of R.B. Burmister, Cashier and James A. Bacigalupi, President. Courtesy of Lyn Knight Auctions, www.lynknight.com
1929 Type 1 $5 bank note with SN 1 and printed signatures of R.B. Burmister, Cashier and James A. Bacigalupi, President. The Government Printing Office (GPO) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. This is a replacement note.
1929 Type 1 $5 bank note with SN 1 and printed signatures of R.B. Burmister, Cashier and James A. Bacigalupi, President. The Government Printing Office (GPO) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. This is a replacement note. Courtesy of Arri Jacob
1929 Type 1 $50 bank note with printed signatures of W.L. Vincent, Cashier and A.J. Mount, President. Barnhart Brothers and Spindler (BBS) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note
1929 Type 1 $50 bank note with printed signatures of W.L. Vincent, Cashier and A.J. Mount, President. Barnhart Brothers and Spindler (BBS) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1929 Type 2 $100 bank note with printed signatures of R.G. Smith, Cashier and William F. Morrish, President. Barnhart Brothers and Spindler (BBS) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note
1929 Type 2 $100 bank note with printed signatures of R.G. Smith, Cashier and William F. Morrish, President. Barnhart Brothers and Spindler (BBS) prepared the overprinting plate used to produce this note. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com
1929 Type 2 $5 bank note with printed signatures of R.G. Smith, Cashier and William F. Morrish, President. Note the SN with B prefix. Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, San Francisco, was the only bank to issue type 2 notes with a B prefix
1929 Type 2 $5 bank note with printed signatures of R.G. Smith, Cashier and William F. Morrish, President. Note the SN with B prefix. Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association, San Francisco, was the only bank to issue type 2 notes with a B prefix. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.ha.com

A total of $123,536,720 in National Bank Notes was issued by this bank between 1927 and 1935. This consisted of a total of 12,762,862 notes (1,924,808 large size and 10,838,054 small size notes).

This bank issued the following Types and Denominations of bank notes:

Series/Type Sheet/Denoms Serial#s Sheet Comments
1: 1902 Plain Back 4x5 1 - 282343
1: 1902 Plain Back 4x10 1 - 94566
1: 1902 Plain Back 3x10-20 1 - 95212
1: 1902 Plain Back 3x50-100 1 - 9081
1: 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 131088
1: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 57094
1: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 24522
1: 1929 Type 1 6x50 1 - 5940
1: 1929 Type 1 6x100 1 - 2366
2: 1929 Type 1 6x5 1 - 634826
2: 1929 Type 1 6x10 1 - 393722
2: 1929 Type 1 6x20 1 - 129054
2: 1929 Type 1 6x50 1 - 11178
2: 1929 Type 1 6x100 1 - 4572
2: 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 999996
2: 1929 Type 2 5 1 - 172602 B prefix
2: 1929 Type 2 10 1 - 762420
2: 1929 Type 2 20 1 - 435444
2: 1929 Type 2 50 1 - 60308
2: 1929 Type 2 100 1 - 41112

Bank Presidents and Cashiers

Bank Presidents and Cashiers during the National Bank Note Era (1927 - 1935):

Presidents:

Cashiers:

Other Known Bank Note Signers

  • No other known bank note signers for this bank

Bank Note History Links

Sources

  1. ↑ The Bankers' Magazine, Vol. 102, Jan. 1921-June 1921, p. 191.
  2. ↑ The San Francisco Journal and Daily Journal of Commerce, San Francisco, CA, Mon., Jan. 2, 1922.
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