Fredlyn Trull Conant demonstrates the use of a Teller 24 ATM. Photo undated.In 1968, Don Wetzel was waiting in line at a Dallas bank. “I was irritated,” he toldin 2003. “My money is in this bank, and I should be able to get it,” he thought.Don Wetzel, inventor of the ATM. Photo dated Dec. 20, 2004.
Docutel’s engineers ran into conceptual problems. How would an ATM store information that tells it what to do? How do you make it secure, both physically and in terms of customer data? Would banks want to purchase a product that pointed customers away from tellers? Would customers even use it?Headline published in The Dallas Morning News, Nov. 7, 1971.The “Docuteller” debuted at a Chemical Bank in New York City in September 1969. It dispensed cash from checking and savings accounts.
Docutel introduced the Total Teller in 1971, the first fully functioning ATM. Inevitably, when one bank in a town bought one, the rest followed suit.B.J. Meredith used his celebrity brother, Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith , to market the first ATMs. Their parents, Jeff and Hazel, are pictured with them.
Before 1986, the Texas Constitution had a law prohibiting branch banking. This meant that any bank in Texas could not have a second location. According to the Texas Department of Banking, every bank operated as its own financial entity, with its own charter, president, board and so on.