Bank of California

The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered instrumental in developing the American Old West. The ancestor of the bank was the banking firm of Garrison, Morgan, Fretz & Ralston, established in San Francisco in January 1856 by a group that included Ralston, Cornelius K. Garrison and R.S. Fretz. Ralston established the Bank of California in 1864 when he sold shares to 22 of the state's leading businessmen for $100 a share. The bank opened on July 4, 1864, with Darius Ogden Mills as president and Ralston as cashier; Louis McLane was on the board of directors. A...