Minnesota review: Goodbye Norwest; Wells Fargo name unveiled in Minnesota

Northwestern Financial Review, Jul 8, 2000 by Olmsted, Monte

Giddiyup! The Wells Fargo stagecoach has arrived in Minnesota.

Nearly two years after Wells Fargo & Co. of San Francisco announced it would merge with Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp., Minnesota institutions with the Norwest moniker officially changed their name to Wells Fargo on July 8.

Signs on the Norwest Bank's 160 Minnesota locanons in 95 communities began being removed in late June and will unveil the Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota name. "New signs will be going up beginning July 8 and into early August," said Mike Bares, media relations manager for Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota in Minneapolis.

In addition, the Norwest Center in downtown Minneapolis will become the Wells Fargo Center.

Jim Campbell will continue to lead Wells Fargo's Minnesota operations as chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota. Patrick J. Donovan, current president of Norwest Bank Twin Cities, will serve as the bank's president and COO for Wells Fargo's Minnesota, Indiana and Ohio banking group.

The Wells Fargo name last appeared in Minnesota in 1918. At the time, the state had more than 200 Wells Fargo offices until the federal government took control over the company's delivery portion of the business and eliminated 10,000 Wells Fargo locations in the country.

In preparing for the name change, Wells Fargo has put together a clever promotional package that includes a company stagecoach that will appear throughout the state. The trek of the Wells Fargo Express began June 15 in Duluth and will end on Aug. 26 in Barnesville. Upcoming appearances will be in Albert Lea on July 16; Minneapolis on July 19; Rochester on July 21, New Ulm on July 23, and Willmar on July 24. A stop in Fargo, N.D., took place on July 1.

Wells Fargo hired Mike Miller of Stacy, Minn., to drive the stagecoach. Miller, who operates a horse-drawn carriage business, will be adorned in Western-era garb while he makes appearances in parades and special events. After each appearance, Wells Fargo transports the stagecoach, equipment and horses via semi-truck to the next location, Bares said.

"The stagecoach is the only one based in the Midwest, so Miller will travel throughout the Midwest doing the appearances," Bares said.

The stagecoach is one of 20 reproductions owned by Wells Fargo, and the Minnesota coach was built by Hansen Wheel & Wagon in Letcher, S.D., Bares said. He also noted that the company recently had installed an authentic 1863 stagecoach in the rotunda of Norwest Center in Minneapolis.

Wrapped in a Wells Fargo cloth money bag, a media packet announcing the name change included a compact disc for the soundtrack of "The Music Man," which includes the song "The Wells Fargo Wagon."