First National Bank of Burkburnett
Burkburnett, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
City's oldest business institution, organized May 15, 1907. Joseph A. Kemp, one of townsite owners, was president; John G. Hardin, merchant (and later oil magnate and executive of this bank), vice president; H. D. Creath, cashier. S. B. Burnett, for whom town was named, was one of the original depositors.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the First National Bank opened its doors in May 1907, Burkburnett was still a modest North Texas farming and ranching town on land tied to the great cattleman S. B. Burnett, its namesake. Its founders read like a roster of the region's frontier commerce: townsite owner Joseph A. Kemp and merchant John G. Hardin, who would soon ride the discovery of oil into a fortune. Within a dozen years, the 1918 gusher would turn this sleepy county into the frenzied boomtown that inspired the film 'Boom Town.'
Why it matters
The bank captures the moment just before oil transformed North Texas, showing how ranching capital and small-town merchants laid the financial groundwork for one of America's great petroleum booms.
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Related people
- · Joseph A. Kemp
- · John G. Hardin
- · S. B. Burnett
- · H. D. Creath
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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