American Fletcher Corporation
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| Public | |
| Industry | Banking |
| Fate | Acquired by Banc One |
| Successor | Banc One |
| Founded | 1839 as S.A. Fletcher & Company in Indianapolis December 31, 1968 as American Fletcher Corporation |
| Defunct | January 27, 1987 |
| Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
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Key people
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| Products | Financial Services |
| Parent | American Fletcher Corporation |
American Fletcher National Bank was an Indianapolis-based bank founded in 1839 that was eventually absorbed by Bank One and later Chase Bank. Since the merger of the Fletcher Trust Company with the American National Bank to form the American Fletcher National Bank and Trust Company at the end of 1954, it had been the largest or the second largest bank in the state of Indiana, often changing places with its Indianapolis-based rival Indiana National Bank for the top spot. From the mid-1950s through the late 1980s, American Fletcher National Bank and Trust, along with Indiana National Bank and Merchants National Bank, was one of the top three largest banks within Indianapolis and its holding company, American Fletcher Corporation, was one of the top three largest bank holding companies within the state, along with INB Financial Corporation (formerly Indiana National Corporation) and Merchants National Corporation.
In the 1970s and 1980s, they were well known for owning every 222-prefixed number in the 317 area code. Officially, this number was 222-AFNB (2362), but since any combination would work, most people just dialed seven 2s. This line would provide a recorded message with the time, weather, and other announcements. This service was discontinued in 1986 and the number 222-2222 was later used by Indianapolis radio station WIBC for use as their weather line.
American Fletcher National Bank and Trust Company (AFNB) was formed on December 31, 1954 upon the merger of the Fletcher Trust Company with the American National Bank to form the second largest bank in the state at that time. Evan Woollen Jr., former president of Fletcher Trust, became president on the combined company. With the merger with the Fidelity Bank & Trust Company into the company on July 31, 1959, AFNB became the largest bank in the state. Woollen had died just a month prior to the completion of the merger. Frank E. McKinney, the leader of Fidelity since 1935, became in charged of AFNB.
American Fletcher was one of the earliest issuers of bank credit cards within the state of Indiana with the introduction of their proprietary AFNB Charge Card in May 1966. By early 1967, the AFNB Charge Card was associated with the regional Midwest Bank Card System, an early forerunner of MasterCard. Outside of Marion County, American Fletcher franchised their charge card to other Indiana banks, such as the Merchants National Bank of Terre Haute.
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Wikipedia