Early Banking in Eastland

Eastland's First State Bank opened in 1909 as the town's first state-chartered bank and failed in January 1924, in the years when the state's deposit-guaranty system was breaking down. The depression of 1921 brought an epidemic of bank failures and heavy calls on the guaranty fund, which was effectively insolvent by 1925 and abolished in 1927. By the time the Eastland National Bank opened in 1934, Texas had tried again: its 1933 plan to insure state bank deposits attracted only seventeen banks and was abolished in 1937.

What the plaque says

Early Banking in Eastland The evolution of Eastland banks reflects local economic conditions and global influences. Soon after the Texas and Pacific Railway reached town in October 1880, a Mr. Berry of Stephenville opened the first bank in Eastland in Jacob Alexander's dry goods store. Eastland National Bank began in the fall of 1890 on the square, with Major W.H. Parvin as president and John T. Yeargin as cashier. Eastland County Bank ran from the late 1890s to 1904 in the same location. City National Bank opened in 1905, with G.H. Connell as the first bank president and T.E. Downtain as vice-president. First State Bank opened in 1909 as the first state-chartered bank in Eastland. The next surge in new banks followed discovery of the Ranger Oil Field in 1917. In two years, Eastland's population grew from 1,000 to 9,368, and banks in the county numbered eighteen. In 1919-21, First State Bank built a new headquarters on this site, designed by architect Henry T. Phelps. Oil production declined in the early 1920s, and First State absorbed smaller banks. City National Bank closed in 1921 after a brief incarnation as Security State Bank and Trust. First State Bank failed in January 1924, with Texas State Bank taking over the building and assets. A few months after the stock market crash of 1929, the county's banks had decreased to seven and Texas State was Eastland's only bank. After a run on deposits on October 1, 1931, Texas State Bank closed its doors for good. The town was without a bank until a new Eastland National Bank opened on this site in November 1934, as the city and nation slowly emerged from the Great Depression with strengthened banking regulations and a more diverse economy. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Rip at the Eastland County Courthouse — steps away
  A horned lizard in a glass-topped casket in the 1928 Eastland courthouse, the creature said to have come out alive from the old building's cornerstone after thirty-one years.
• Conrad Hilton Center and Mobley Hotel — 9.5 mi
  The 40-room oil-boom hotel in Cisco that Conrad Hilton bought in 1919 when a bank deal fell through, now a museum of the Hilton start and of Cisco's 1927 Santa Claus bank robbery.

More markers nearby

• Eastland — steps away
• Camp Salmon, C.S.A. — steps away
• Early Settlers of Eastland County — steps away
• First United Methodist Church of Eastland — steps away