Commerce Bancshares

History

Commerce was founded by Francis Reid Long with $10,000 in capital in 1865, just as communities were rebuilding during post-Civil War Reconstruction. Originally known as the Kansas City Savings Association, it was acquired in 1881 by Dr. William Stone Woods and renamed the National Bank of Commerce, claiming at the time to be the largest bank west of Chicago. Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, worked as a clerk and cashier at the bank in the early 1900s. When describing Dr. Woods, Truman once said, "There are dozens of stories about his close accounting of the nickels and pennies, but if he chose to back a man, he stayed with him through thick and thin if that man had energy and character." Dr. Woods would go on to transform the Kansas City bank into a modern financial institution.

Truman's housemate at the time was fellow Commerce employee Arthur Eisenhower, brother of future war hero and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Arthur went on to work at Commerce for more than 50 years.

The bank became Commerce Bank in 1903 with William Thornton Kemper Sr. as its first president. Kemper set up one of his sons, James M. Kemper, at Commerce and his other son, Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr., at the competing City Center Bank, which later became UMB Financial Corporation. Members of the Kemper family still play a dominant role at both banks. They also are a major force in Missouri philanthropies, with their names attached to numerous buildings throughout the state, including Kemper Arena.

In 1928, Commerce opened the nation's first 24-hour banking transit department, where checks or transit items drawn from out-of-town banks could be cleared and collected. The bank was an early adopter in other ways as well. In 1955, it installed the latest moving "electric stairs" in the Walnut Lobby of its Kansas City headquarters.

After World War II, Commerce Bank continued to play an important role in the Midwest's growth. It funded business growth, working with H&R Block, Sprint (originally called United Utilities), and Trans World Airlines, which had its main overhaul base at Kansas City International Airport. In 1954, the Commerce Trust Company allowed Walt Disney and his wife, Lillian, to take out a $60,000 loan against Disney's life insurance policy to help fund the development of a new theme park Disney envisioned. Disneyland opened in California a year later, and by the end of its first year in operation, the park had already attracted 3.6 million guests.