First National Bank

The plaque dates the bank to 1891, but its national charter is a year older and began in another town. National bank records list charter 4410, organized at Elgin on July 14, 1890 and granted that September 1, with A. H. Jones as first president. On March 10, 1891 the charter moved to Giddings under the same title. Dr. J. A. Fields held the presidency into 1907, John Cyrus Hillsman followed, and Ed R. Sinks led it from 1916 through at least 1935. In 2025 the bank marked 135 years, still calling itself locally owned since 1890.

What the plaque says

First National Bank Lee County's oldest banking institution. An agent for progress in this area. Founded 1891 at merger of P. M. Cuney & Co., private bank, with First National Bank of Elgin (founded in 1890 by 30 merchants and ranchers). The officers were Dr. J.A. Fields, president; Cuney, E. J. Archinard, I. J. Fariss, J. L. Rousseau, Ed R. Sinks and S. F. Wade, directors. (1969)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Wendish Heritage Museum — 5.4 mi
  A museum at Serbin of the Wends, a Slavic people from Lusatia whose congregation of nearly 600 crossed on the Ben Nevis in 1854, losing seventy-three to cholera on the way.
• Lake Somerville State Park and Trailway — 14 mi
  Two park units on an 11,000-acre lake between Austin and College Station, joined by a thirteen-mile trailway for hikers, cyclists and riders with primitive camps along the way.
• Round Top and Festival Hill — 17 mi
  A German village on the old La Bahía Road, named for a house tower, with an 1867 stone church, a Fourth of July kept since 1851 and a concert hall a pianist built without blueprints.
• Monument Hill and Kreische Brewery State Historic Sites — 21 mi
  A shared tomb on the Colorado River bluff for the men of the Dawson fight and the black bean lottery, beside the ruins of a German stonemason's spring-fed brewery.

More markers nearby

• County Named for Beloved Confederate General Robert E. Lee — steps away
• Lee County — steps away
• Milton Garrett York, Sr. — steps away
• J. D. Giddings Lodge No. 280, A. F. & A. M. — steps away