American Express started as a freight company and evolved into one of the world leaders in the credit card industry.

American Express Company was established in 1850 in New York and was among the first and most successful express delivery businesses to come to prominence during the westward expansion period of the United States. Part of the reason of their rise to prominence was due to the U.S. Postal Service being expensive, slow and frequently unavailable during that time period.

American Express served as a lifeline for our expanding nation. They delivered parcels, correspondence, freight, gold and currency on horseback or driving stagecoaches from the eastern cities to the western frontier. American Express quickly earned a reputation as the best company in the delivery business.

Even though in its early years American Express was not a financial services company, its biggest and most reliable clients were banks. Delivering the banks’ typically small parcels – stock certificates, notes, currency and other financial instruments – was dramatically more profitable than transporting larger freight. Before long the company scaled down its parcel and freight delivery business to focus on selling its own financial products.

In 1882, American Express created the money order business, which proved an almost instant success. The company unveiled the world’s first traveler’s check in 1891. Within ten years American Express was selling more than $6 million in checks a year.

In the course of developing the money order and traveler's check businesses, the company established banking relationships with a number of European banks that accepted and cashed the products. As a result, the American Express name became increasingly visible throughout Europe. The company established its first European office in 1895, in Paris, at 6, rue Halévy, followed by the 1896 opening of an office at 3 Waterloo Place in London. By 1910, American Express had expanded to Hamburg, Berlin, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Southampton, Liverpool, Bremen, Naples and Genoa.

Meanwhile, back in New York, millions of immigrants were entering the United States through Ellis Island. The U.S. Immigration Department awarded a contract to American Express in 1905 to provide official currency exchange services after uncovering several examples of flagrant swindling among the independent moneychangers on Ellis Island. Newcomers to the United States have completed their first business transactions at the American Express teller’s window on Ellis Island.

The first American Express Credit Card was issued in 1958. More than 1 million cards were in use at approximately 85,000 establishments within and outside the United States within 5 years. One of their most popular cards of all time, American Express Gold Card, was issued in 1966. Their credit card business was growing steadily and becoming increasingly profitable and so was their traveler’s check business.

In the late 1970s, American Express decided to become a multifaceted worldwide conglomerate and attempted to add many different revenue streams to its core business. This didn’t not work as well as had been envisioned and by 1985 American Express decided to shed it’s noncore activities and return to the company’s core business, credit cards and traveler’s checks.

Today, American Express is at its most competitive stage and is a world leader in the credit card market and is poised to seize new opportunities as they arise in the world’s changing financial industry.