Ampersand

I haven't checked this out, but apparently the figure "&" used to be considered part of the English alphabet. According to this Wikipedia post back in the 1800s it apparently was pronounced "and per se and" and would've constituted a 27th letter of the alphabet. (Note there's no citation for this claim). Gradually over time the phrase "and per se and" became shortened to what we now call the ampersand.

It was apparently ordered after the "Z" of the alphabet, and in usage was considered a symbol that could stand on it's own, much like the letters "A" and "I" could stand on their own.

Anybody ever heard of this?