First State Bank of Rankin

The bank opened in Rankin's short first boom. When the Santa Rita, McCamey and Yates fields came in, the town's population was estimated at 1,500 by 1928. Two forty-six-room hotels went up, along with an $80,000 brick school, a courthouse and a two-story office building, and the weekly Upton County Journal began publication. Rankin incorporated in 1928. But no oil was found close to town, and people left: the population fell to 935 by 1931 and, through the Great Depression, to 672 in 1940.

What the plaque says

First State Bank of Rankin Founded in 1911 on the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, the town of Rankin saw for immense oil fields discovered in its trade area in 1923-1926. Local business expanded greatly. The first state bank of Rankin-- Upton County's first financial institution-- opened June 4,1927. Original officers were John F. Lane, business and civic leader, president; J. P. Rankin, rancher, vice president. Directors: Harry Baldwin, oil man; T. J. Murphy, Rancher; G. W. Newberry, merchant; W. M. Noelke, rancher; B. S. Taylor, merchant. W. H. Holcombe served as the bank's first cashier. (1977)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rankin Museum (Yates Hotel) — 0.3 mi
  The fireproof hotel Ira Yates built beside the Orient railway depot months after oil came in on his ranch in 1926, kept as it was down to the wicker lobby furniture.
• Mendoza Trail Museum — 17 mi
  A 1966 museum in a 1925 oil town, named for the Spanish officer who crossed this country in 1683 at the invitation of the Jumano, with a 1915 bungalow beside it.
• Alley Oop Park and Iraan Museum — 21 mi
  An oil-boom town named for Ira and Ann Yates, where the creator of the caveman comic Alley Oop once worked, and a park of giant cartoon figures beside the town museum.

More markers nearby

• Upland First Upton County Seat — steps away
• John C. Upton and His Brother, W. F. Upton — steps away
• Site of First Church in Upton County — 0.3 mi
• Rankin Cemetery — 1.1 mi