First National Bank of Decatur

The bank's president was heir to a family that began with one herd. The Handbook of Texas says Tom Waggoner was adopted by his stepmother, Scylly Ann, and was his father's partner by 1869. In 1877 he married Ella Halsell, her younger sister. By 1879 he managed the China Creek headquarters, and by 1900 he could give each child 90,000 acres and 10,000 cattle. Oil came in on the ranch in 1903, and about 1904 he moved to Fort Worth, though he kept time in Decatur. In 1931 he had the old Decatur home restored.

What the plaque says

First National Bank of Decatur This financial institution was organized in 1883 by Decatur bankers Dan Waggoner, Henry Greathouse, and other pioneer businessmen. Waggoner's son, W. T. Waggoner (b. 1854), a prominent Texas cattleman and oilman, served as bank president from 1904 until his death in 1934. His sound leadership enabled the bank to survive the Depression and become a leader in developing the Wise County area. Located on Decatur's town square for over eighty years, the First National Bank moved to this site in 1966. (1983)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wise County Courthouse — steps away
  J. Riely Gordon's granite Romanesque courthouse of 1895-96 in Decatur, built after fire destroyed the Second Empire courthouse and set off a fight over the county seat.
• Denton County Courthouse-on-the-Square — 26 mi
  An 1896 courthouse by W. C. Dodson in Denton limestone, pink granite and two sandstones, restored in 2004, now a free county museum on a lawn holding the grave of John B. Denton.

More markers nearby

• Colonel Absalom Bishop — steps away
• Wise County, C.S.A. — steps away
• Charles Vernon Terrell — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Decatur — 1.7 mi