American Express, an express mail business, is…

American Express, an express mail business, is founded in Buffalo, New York, on March 17, 1850,
as a joint stock corporation by the merger of the express companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company, the successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company).

Wells and Fargo will also start Wells Fargo & Co. in 1852, when Butterfield and other directors object to the proposal that American Express extend its operations to California.

American Express will initially established its headquarters in a building at the intersection of Jay Street and Hudson Street in what is later called the Tribeca section of Manhattan.

For years it will enjoy a virtual monopoly on the movement of express shipments (goods, securities, currency, etc.) throughout New York State.