First Commerce Bancshares

First Commerce Bancshares Inc. was a banking company whose main subsidiary, National Commerce Bank, was the largest bank in Lincoln, Nebraska. On July 17, 2000, First Commerce's banks became part of Wells Fargo Bank. At the time First Commerce had about 1400 employees and $2.3 billion in assets. National Bank of Commerce had $1.5 billion in assets. Other units of First Commerce included a mortgage company, an asset management company, and NBC/Computer Services Corporation.

Morris Weil moved from France to the United States in 1875 at age 17. After starting the Lincoln Paint and Color Company in 1892, he started the state-chartered The Bank of Commerce in 1902 with $50,000 in capital. Weil served as president until his death 43 years later, though he had started the bank for his son Carl who worked in another bank in town.

During the Panic of 1907, while many banks failed, Weil's skill kept The Bank of Commerce going. Weil eventually sought a national charter led to a series of agricultural crises. Yet under Weil's leadership, and the name of the bank changed to The National Bank of Commerce of Lincoln.

One of the keys to Weil's success was Weil's ability to visit and advise small community banks around the state of Nebraska. In addition, about half of his deposits came from the very banks he visited. Weil also attracted many of the businesses operating in Lincoln.

National Bank of Commerce added one of Nebraska's first savings departments in 1911, By 1924, the bank had grown so much that it needed a new headquarters, and a six-story building went up at 13th and O streets. National Bank of Commerce survived the Great Depression, one of the few banks to do so.

In 1945, Byron Dunn, a bank employee since he was 17 years old in 1905, replaced Weil after his death. In the 1920s, Dunn had visited Colorado in order to collect on cattle loans, which National Bank of Commerce had arranged through a bank in Denver. After that bank went under, Dunn and a group of cowboys rounded up cattle, though in some cases other banks claimed the cattle did not belong to National Bank of Commerce. Still, Dunn had determination and the most cowboys, and his bank collected most of the cattle.

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