American Express Watch Dog Logo - 1885

The American Express Company, which has played a prominent part in the industrial and commercial development of the United States, was the creation of John Butterfield. Born in Berne, New York, Butterfield had little schooling and in 1821 he left the farm at the age of 19 to seek his fortune. He shortly moved to Utica, New York, where he started his own livery business with the purchase of a horse and carriage.

Butterfield was the first to appreciate the commercial value of an express company to collect and deliver freight to and from the railroad depot in Utica. His business grew and prospered with the result that express companies were organized in other cities of the State. C & B Wasson & Company in Albany handled freight in that city and sometime in the 1840s, Butterfield joined with Wasson to form Butterfield, Wasson & Company to conduct the freight business between Albany and Utica.

The "Utica Daily Gazette" informed its readers on April 4, 1850: "The express lines of Wells & Co. and Butterfield, Wasson & Co. have been consolidated into the American Express Company. The direction of the company is vested in seven directors, and the principle of individual liability is incorporated in the articles of association. Henry Wells, of New York, has been chosen President; John Butterfield, of Utica, Vice President and W. G. Fargo, of Buffalo, Secretary."

The new company was in a position to handle freight on the railroads from New York city to Buffalo and both the company and the railroads experienced a considerable increase in business and profits. When the original railroad depot in Utica was replaced a few years later by a new structure, the American Express Company occupied the old depot at Bagg's Square as its headquarters. This old depot was scheduled for demolition in 1910 and the finding of the old records of the company prompted the "Utica Sunday Tribune" of October 9, 1910 to report:

American Express Office in Utica next to the Bagg's Hotel - 1892

"Like the telegraph lines, the express companies were born and nurtured in this city, and the same man whose idea of the usefulness of the telegraph was laughed at was the one to see the commercial value of the express delivery system. That man was John Butterfield, and his express company business grew and grew with the result that others saw the possibilities of the scheme. In the early days of the American Express Company, Utica was its headquarters. In this city were the main offices, and Utica was the central point from which express was sent East and West. The auditing force and clerical staff of the company was located at Bagg's Square, and the other offices, including that in New York, were subsidiary to the local one.

"Those interested in the first company were Mr. Wells, whose name is perpetuated in the Wells-Fargo company, and Mr. Butterfield, and the organization was known as Wells, Butterfield & Co. This company owned the American Express Company as well as the New York, Albany & Buffalo Telegraph Company, over the lines of which were flashed the first message of a commercial nature forwarded in the world."Later the Wells Butterfield Company took over the Merchants' Union Express Exchange, which operated in the northern part of New York State though in a very small manner and at infrequent times.

"In 1868 the farthest that the company had extended its service was to St. Paul in the Northwest and to St. Joseph, Missouri in the West. This service was gradually extended and the present system which spans the country either way was due to the business acumen and foresights of Mr. Butterfield and Mr. Wells who with his partner saw the possibilities of such a system.

"In Utica in 1860 the Company employed three men and had six horses. In 1875 the Company had nine men. This year (1910) there are employed (in Utica) 53 men and 20 horses are required for deliveries and collections."