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Giannini’s actions were crucial to San Francisco’s survival in those early tragic days following the great quake of 1906 but his influence in California and beyond continues to this day; to start, A.P. founded the Bank of America and the Transamerica Corporation and…
After the earthquake and fire of 1906, his bank, the only one to survive the catastrophe with all its assets intact, was the first to reopen. It helped San Francisco rise from the ashes by making loans “on a face and a signature” to the small businesses and people whose lives were shattered.
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Immediately after the earthquake, but before the approaching fire burned the city, he moved the vault's money to his home outside the fire zone in then-rural San Mateo, 18 miles (29 km) away. A garbage wagon was used to haul the money, hidden beneath garbage.
- A. P. Giannini
- 6, including Claire Giannini Hoffman
- Clorinda Cuneo
- Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery
On 18 April 1906 San Francisco was hit by a devastating earthquake and fire; before the bank building burned down, Amadeo Giannini was able to move the vault’s money and records to his home in San Mateo, some 18 miles away.
Giannini grew Bank of America into the world’s largest bank. Three years after surviving the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Giannini’s banking operations expanded by opening its first branch in San Jose. He continued to open banks throughout California, consolidating operations in 1927.
A.P. supported causes he believed in and followed his instincts with memorable results: In 1906, when the great earthquake struck San Francisco, he personally rescued the bank’s gold and currency, and his was the first bank to resume operations. When Walt Disney ran $2 million over budget on Snow White, Giannini loaned the essential funds.
He went door-to-door and stopped people on the street to explain what his bank could do. Two years later, a disastrous earthquake destroyed San Francisco.
