First National Bank of Farmersville
Farmersville, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Named for the occupation of many of its citizens, the town of Farmersville was founded in the mid 1850s. A private bank, the Exchange Bank was established in 1885, and housed in the rear of the Aston Brothers store. A national bank charter was obtained on January 17, 1887, and the Exchange Bank merged with the First National Bank of Farmersville. Pioneer Doctor A.H. Neathery served as the first president. The bank building, then located at 119 South Main Street, was destroyed by fire in 1905 but it was rebuilt. The First National Bank absorbed the Farmersville National Bank in 1929. In 1933 the First National Bank of Nevada, from the small town of Nevada south of here, was also absorbed. Despite experiencing heavy losses and undergoing two reorganizations during the Depression of the 1930s, the bank never failed and its customers suffered no interruption of services. The bank moved to its present location in 1970, and expanded the building in 1979. The bank converted to a state bank charter in 1986, and changed the name to the First Bank at Farmersville. The bank, one of the 20 oldest independent banks in Texas, has served Farmersville and the surrounding communities continuously for more than 110 years. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Farmersville earned its plain name honestly—it grew up in the 1850s among the cotton and grain farms of Collin County. Its bank began in 1885 in the back of the Aston Brothers store and won a national charter in 1887, weathering a 1905 fire and, remarkably, the Great Depression without ever failing its depositors. Through mergers and reorganizations it became one of the twenty oldest independent banks in Texas.
Why it matters
Small-town banks like this one were the financial backbone of rural America, and surviving the 1930s without closing its doors made this institution a symbol of local stability.
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Related people
- · A.H. Neathery
Themes & tags
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