First Security Branch of Wells Fargo

Behind this bank branch sits one of Utah's quiet contributions to American finance. First Security was built by the Eccles family of Ogden — and Marriner Eccles, who organized it in 1928 as one of the country's first multibank holding companies, went on to chair the Federal Reserve through the New Deal and help design the modern American banking system. First Security ran as a Western institution until Wells Fargo absorbed it in 2000. This marker remembers the building; the larger story is the Utah banker who helped reshape the nation's money.

What the plaque says

First Security Branch of Wells Fargo Oldest continuously operated banking site in Utah This site, the northeast corner of First South and Main (formerly East Temple Street), was first occupied in the 1850s by an adobe building housing the Hooper & Eldredge bank. This bank was succeeded under territorial law in 1871 by the Bank of Deseret, with Brigham Young as founder and President, who in 1872 converted it to the nationally chartered Deseret National Bank. First Security Corporation acquired Deseret National Bank in 1932 and moved its headquarters to this location from Ogden, Utah in 1955. First Security operated a banking office here for 68 years before merging with Wells Fargo in 2000. The present building was erected in 1919. This First Security branch, continuing to "give 110%", was dedicated on January 16, 2004

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Salt Lake City — 0.2 mi
  Utah's capital and largest city — where the Wasatch Range meets the Great Salt Lake.
• Temple Square — 0.2 mi
  The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City
• Ensign Peak — 1.6 mi
  A short hike to the spot where Brigham Young surveyed the valley
• Liberty Park — 1.8 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882

More markers nearby

• Pioneer Telegraph Office — steps away
• Z.C.M.I. — steps away
• Zions First National Bank — steps away
• Templeton Building — steps away