First National Bank in Graham

Graham's growth came with rails and oil. The Handbook of Texas dates Rock Island service from Fort Worth to 1903, and in the 1920s the Wichita Falls and Southern linked the town to Breckenridge, Ranger and Dublin. Oil was discovered in 1917, and by 1920 the population had reached 2,544; later discoveries pushed it to 5,175 in 1940 and 6,756 in 1950. By 1966 Graham had seventeen churches, a hospital, a radio station and two newspapers. In the 1980s its industries included tourism, oil services, livestock feed and aerospace equipment, and in 2000 it had 8,716 people.

What the plaque says

South Carolina native W. C. Beckham (1825-1895) came to Graham from Florida in the 1880s. He opened a mercantile store on the north side of the town square and soon began making short-term loans to his customers. That practice led to the creation of the Beckham National Bank in 1890. In 1921 it was renamed First National Bank in Graham. A significant part of the city's economic history, the bank continued in operation of the north side of the square until 1972, when it moved to this location. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Post Office Museum and Art Center — steps away
  Graham's 1936 Art Moderne post office, with a New Deal mural by Alexandre Hogue inside, now the free museum of Young County in the town where the Texas cattle raisers first organized.
• Fort Belknap — 9.3 mi
  The 1851 northern anchor of the first Texas frontier forts, on the Brazos below Newcastle, a Butterfield stop and the post beside the Brazos Reservation until its people were driven out in 1859.
• Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site — 27 mi
  The northernmost post of the Texas frontier line, outside Jacksboro, where a stone hospital and six other buildings stand from 1867 and a later Guard unit became the Lost Battalion.

More markers nearby

• Site of Third County Courthouse — steps away
• Morrison Funeral Home — steps away
• An 1890 Bank Building — steps away
• Standpipe Mountain — steps away