<P> In October 2000, Firstar Corporation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin announced the pending acquisition of U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, Minnesota for $21 Billion in stock . Firstar completed its buyout of U.S. Bancorp on February 27, 2001 and changed its name to U.S. Bancorp . Under the merger agreement, Jerry Grundhofer, president and chief executive officer of Firstar, would continue in those positions in the combined company while his older brother, John Grundhofer, chairman, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Bancorp, would serve as chairman of the board in the combined company until his planned retirement on December 31, 2002 . Though some administrative functions would remain in Milwaukee and Cincinnati, it was decided that the new combined company would be based in Minneapolis and that the new company would use the U.S. Bancorp name . </P> <P> To allow the merger to proceed, the U.S. Department of Justice required Firstar to sell 11 branch offices in the Minneapolis - area and 2 in Council Bluffs, Iowa . Bremer Bank of Saint Paul, Minnesota purchased the 11 Minneapolis - area Firstar offices while Liberty Bank of West Des Moines, Iowa purchased the 2 Council Bluffs offices . </P> <P> Although the origin of the Milwaukee - based Firstar Corporation can be traced back to the founding of the Farmer's and Millers Bank in Milwaukee in 1853 and the later formation of the First Wisconsin National Bank in 1919, the actual company that took over U.S. Bancorp in 2001 is the actually the same company and leadership that was responsible for the takeover of Firstar 27 months earlier in 1998, namely Star Banc Corporation . That bank, in turn, traced its roots to the founding of First National Bank of Cincinnati in 1863 . Jerry Grundhofer and his team from Star Banc were instrumental in both acquisitions . </P> <P> Present - day U.S. Bancorp retains Star Banc's pre-1998 stock price history, and as mentioned above operates under the charter originally granted to First National Bank of Cincinnati . Additionally, all SEC filings before 1998 are under Star Banc, and all filings from 1998 to 2000 are under Firstar . </P>

Us bank branch locations in the united states