American Fletcher National Bank

American Fletcher National Bank and Trust Company
  • American Fletcher National Bank
  • AFNB
  • American Fletcher
Company typePublic
IndustryBanking
Founded1839; 185 years ago (1839) as S.A. Fletcher & Company in Indianapolis
December 31, 1968; 55 years ago (1968-12-31) as American Fletcher Corporation
DefunctJanuary 27, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-01-27)
FateAcquired by Banc One
SuccessorBanc One
HeadquartersIndianapolis, Indiana, United States
Key people
ProductsFinancial services
ParentAmerican 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[1][2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

Starting in the 1960s, they were well known for owning the only 222-prefixed number in the 317 area code. Officially, this number was 222-AFNB (2362), but since 222 plus any four numbers would work, most people just dialed seven 2s.[5] This line would provide a recorded message with the time, weather, and other announcements. The service was discontinued by Bank One in 1993, but five years later, Indianapolis radio station WIBC took the number 222-2222 for a new recorded forecast called the WIBC Weatherphone.[5] That service endured for more than 25 years before being discontinued in February 2024.[citation needed]

  1. ^ "Indy's American Fletcher Agrees to Merge with Banc One of Ohio". Fort Wayne News Sentinel. May 8, 1986. The parent company of Indiana's largest bank has agreed to become part of Ohio's second-largest bank company. Officials of American Fletcher Corp. of Indianapolis and Banc One Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, said Wednesday the stock-swap deal was valued at $597.3 million, or about $60 a share of American Fletcher stock. The price paid is the highest so far for any Indiana bank, experts said. The Indianapolis bank will join Banc One, one of the Midwest's largest bank companies. Banc One has assets of more than $11 billion. American Fletcher's assets total $4.1 billion. American Fletcher will change its name to Banc One, Indiana Corp. and will gain a role in the management of the parent company. As part of the agreement, American Fletcher Chairman Frank E. McKinney Jr. will become president of the Ohio-based company. John B. McCoy, now Banc One president, will become chairman and chief executive officer. McKinney and two other directors of American Fletcher will be added to the Columbus-based company's board of directors. The two additional directors have not been named.
  2. ^ "Banc One Corp. Swallows Indiana's Largest Bank". Post-Tribune. January 27, 1987. p. B7. Indiana's largest bank and Ohio's second-largest bank holding company merged Monday, and chairmen of the two companies promised to expand as much as the law would allow. American Fletcher Corp. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Banc One Corp. of Columbus, Ohio, in a stock transaction valued at $552 million, American Fletcher chairman Frank E. McKinney Jr. said. Banc One Corp. is the owner of Bank One Merrillville, formerly Bank of Indiana... American Fletcher Corp., which owns American Fletcher National Bank of Indianapolis and four other banks in Indiana, was renamed Banc One Indiana Corp., McKinney said Monday at a news conference. American Fletcher National Bank will be known as Bank One Indianapolis, he said. Signs reflecting the change will be erected at the bank's branches starting Feb. 16, he said. The other banks owned by American Fletcher will also change their names to Bank One and the name of their home cities. They are Carmel Bank and Trust Co., Citizens Northern Bank of Elkhart, Union Bank and Trust Co. of Franklin and First American National Bank of Plainfield. Four other Indiana banks already owned by Banc One, in Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Marion and Merrillville, will become affiliates of Banc One Indiana Corp. later this year, McKinney said. Banc One also has acquisitions pending in Rensselaer, Bloomington and Richmond. Once those deals are completed, Banc One Indiana will control 10.8 percent of the total deposits in Indiana banks, McKinney said.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference indyencyclopedia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference tis-1985sep12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "Line 222". Indianapolis Monthly. Vol. 21, no. 12. June 1998. p. 24. ISSN 0899-0328.