BOA was started in San Francisco. It originally was Bank of Italy and changed its name (I think) around WWII. Maybe it was earlier. My parents always banked with BOA, and my mother (99) still has accounts there.
Funny thing — there is NO BOA branch in Wisconsin. I manage my mother’s affairs now and cannot “run down to the bank” to straighten out little confusions. I have to do it by mail, or put the check in my account and do an on-line transfer for deposits.
You are correct. Bank of Italy pre-dates the 1906 SF Earthquake. He bought a controlling stake in a failing LA bank called “Bank of America” in the 1930s and changed the name of the enterprise soon thereafter.
A.P. Gianini (founder) was one of the visionaries behind the branch and inter-state banking model that we now take for granted. Largely grown through acquisitions, the corporate headquarters shifted to Charlotte NC in 1999 when they “merged” with NationsBank.
I thought BofA did have a presence in Wisconsin from it’s acquisition of LaSalle Bank about 5 years ago, though I could be wrong.
They don’t have any branches in Minnesota either. US Bank is based here, and Wells Fargo also has a pretty heavy presence. I wonder if BofA has ever attempted to acquire US Bank to make up for their weak presence in the Upper Midwest; they certainly have a history of expanding by acquisition...