The original company was founded on March 18, 1850, through the consolidation of three companies active in the express transport of goods, valuables, and species between New York City and Buffalo, New York, and points in the Midwest: Livingston, Fargo & Company; Wells & Co.; Butterfield & Wasson. By the end of the American Civil War, its business had so flourished, with some 900 offices in 10 states, that it attracted competition in 1866 in the formation of Merchants Union Express Company. For two years the two companies engaged in cutthroat competition and, on the verge of financial exhaustion, finally merged on November 25, 1868, to form the American Merchants Union Express Company, with Fargo succeeding as president. The company was renamed American Express Company in 1873.

On Fargo’s death in 1881, his younger brother, James Congdell Fargo (1829–1915), became president and guided the company for the next 33 years, introducing such innovations as the American Express Money Order (1882) and the American Express Travelers Cheque (1891), and opening the first European office in Paris (1895). International expansion continued with the opening of offices in other European countries, including England (1896) and Germany (1898), and in the early 1900s the company began offering services in Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, Egypt, and India. When the U.S. federal government nationalized the express industry in 1918, thereby consolidating all domestic express operations in the American Railway Express Company (see REA Express, Inc.), American Express turned almost wholly to its banking operations and its relatively new travel services, which had been launched in 1915.

American Express is a leading issuer of personal, small business, and corporate credit cards. The company’s travel-related offerings include traveler’s checks, credit cards, corporate and personal travel planning services, tour packages, and agencies for hotel and car-rental reservations. By the early 21st century, American Express operated in more than 40 countries.

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Camp Fire USA's 111th Anniversary (March 18, 1912 - March 18, 2023)

According to britannica.com