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First Union Corporation was founded by by H.M. Victor as Queen City National Bank on June 2, 1908 as a small banking desk in the lobby of the Buford Hotel in Charlotte, NC.

The bank merged with First National Bank and Trust Company of Asheville in 1958 to become First Union National Bank of North Carolina. In 1964, the bank expanded by acquiring th national mortgage banking and insurance firm Cameron-Brown Company, or Raleigh, NC. First Union Corporation was incorporated in 1967.

As part of a corporate reorganization in 1968, a predecessor of First Union National Bank and First Union Mortgage Corporation, a mortgage banking firm acquired in 1964 became subsidiaries of First Union Corp creating the structure the bank utilized until the 2001 merger.

Starting in 1985, with the Supreme Court decision upholding regional interstate banking legislation, First Union focused on an aggressive growth strategy and from 1985 through the merger with Wachovia in 2001, First Union completed over 90 banking-related acquisitions, 50 of which were completed between 1985 and 1995.

In April 1998, First Union acquired CoreStates Financial Corporation, headquartered in Philadelphia. At the time, this was the largest merger in US banking history.

Core States traced its history to 1781 and the Bank of North America, the first bank chartered in the United States. Once the merger was accomplished, First Union began to claim 1781 as its founding date. Wachovia still operates The Bank of North America's first branch, opened in 1782, which is now the longest continuously operated branch in America.

The acquisition of Core States brought problems with it. Many of these problems arose when First Union attempted a too rapid integration of CoreStates' systems into First Union's. Initially, CoreStates tellers received insufficient training with the new systems and the two systems were unable to communicate with each other. This led to problems with account access and with payments not being correctly applied to loans.

On June 30, 1998, First Union paid $2.1 billion for The Money Store, a loan outfit known for their commercials featuring Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto and pitcher Jim Palmer. Two years later, it closed the unit, writing off $1.7 billion.

On April 16, 2001, Charlotte-based First Union Corporation announced it would merge with Winston-Salem based Wachovia Corporation. As an important part of the deal, First Union would shed its name and assumed the Wachovia identity and stock ticker (NYSE: WB)

References

1. https://www.wachovia.com/foundation/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=0a6510a2090aa110VgnVCM1000004b0d1872RCRD
2. https://www.wachovia.com/foundation/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=0a6510a2090aa110VgnVCM1000004b0d1872RCRD
3. First Union Corp. SEC Form 10-K Annual Report for 2000. (Final 10-K prior to announcement of the Wachovia merger)
4. First Union Corp. SEC Form 10-K Annual Report for 1995.
5. "First Union". Wachovia Corporation. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
6. Anderson, Mark (2000-06-30). "Down in flames: Why Money Store was a bust". Sacramento Business Journal. American City Business Journals, Inc. Retrieved 2007-10-14.