Commerce Bancshares, Inc. is a Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 based U.S. bank holding company with branches of its Commerce Bank in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, and Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

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Commerce Bancshares is the corporate parent of Commerce Bank, the successor of the Commerce Trust Company and the National Bank of Commerce. With roots dating back to its first charter in 1865, Commerce Bank is the oldest and largest bank in Kansas City.

As of December 31, , it was listed as the 48th largest bank holding company in the United States as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank

Federal Reserve Bank

The twelve Federal Reserve Banks form a major part of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. The twelve federal reserve banks together divide the nation into twelve Federal Reserve Districts, the twelve banking districts created by the Federal Reserve Act of...

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This Commerce Bank is not related to other financial institutions named "Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank is the name of several unrelated banks and bank holding companies in the United States, including:*Commerce Bancshares, based in Kansas City, Missouri, which does business as Commerce Bank in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Colorado and Oklahoma....

" based in New Jersey, Ohio, and Massachusetts.

History

Commerce was founded in 1865 by Francis Reid Long

Francis R. Long

Francis Reid Long was Kansas City Mayor in 1869 and founder of what would become Commerce Bancshares.Long was born in Woodford County, KentuckyAfter moving to Kansas City he joined with Nathaniel Grant and A.S...

 as the Kansas City Savings Association with $10,000 in capital. William Stone Woods acquired it in 1881 and it became the National Bank of Commerce which at the time claimed to be the largest bank west of Chicago, Illinois

It became Commerce Bank in 1903 with William Thornton Kemper, Sr.

William Thornton Kemper, Sr.

William Thornton Kemper, Sr. , aka William T. Kemper, is the patriarch of the Missouri Kemper family who developed both Commerce Bancshares and United Missouri Bank to become major a banking family in the Midwest. He also founded the Kemper Grain Company and the Kemper Loan and Investment Company...

 as its first president. Following the Panic of 1907

Panic of 1907

The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic, was a financial crisis that occurred in the United States when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% from its peak the previous year. Panic occurred, as this was during a time of economic recession, and there were numerous runs on...

 it was briefly placed into receivership by the Comptroller of Currency. The bank paid its depositors and ownership returned to its owners.

Kemper set his son James M. Kemper up at Commerce and his other son R. Crosby Kemper

R. Crosby Kemper

Rufus Crosby Kemper Sr. transformed City Center Bank into UMB Financial Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri, during his tenure from 1919 to 1967....

 at the competing City Center Bank which would become UMB Financial Corporation

UMB Financial Corporation

UMB Financial Corporation is an American financial services company based in Kansas City, Missouri with operations in seven, mostly Midwestern, states. The company owns commercial banks, a brokerage company, a community development corporation, a consulting company, a mutual fund servicing...

. The Kemper family from both institutions still play a dominant role at both banks as well as being a major force in Missouri philanthropies with their names applied to numerous buildings throughout the state including Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena

Kemper Arena is a 19,500 seat indoor arena, in Kansas City, Missouri.It is named for R. Crosby Kemper Sr., a member of the powerful Kemper financial clan and who donated $3.2 million, from his estate for the arena...

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Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 worked at the bank from April 24, 1903 to May 15, 1905 in the predecessor building to today's Commerce Tower

Commerce Tower

Commerce Tower is a 30-story Skyscraper located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Constructed in 1965, it is the ninth tallest habitable structure in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, and, since the completion of the City Hall, it was the first locally designed Skyscraper in Kansas City...

. The evaluation in his first year said:

He is a willing worker, almost always here and tries hard to please everybody. We never had a boy in the vault like him before. He watches everything very closely and by his watchfulness, detects many errors which a careless boy would let slip through. His appearance is good and his habits and character are of the best.

Truman signed the last steel beam to added to the Commerce Tower.

In April 2007, Commerce purchased an Aurora, Colorado

Aurora, Colorado

City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality spanning Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties in Colorado. Aurora is an eastern suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The city is the third most populous city in the Colorado and the 56th most populous city in the...

 based Commerce Bank with plans on expanding its business into the state of Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

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