First National Bank
Granbury, Hood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First unit in structure was built 1883--year private bank was opened by D.C. Cogdell and John H. Traylor. National Bank charter was issued in 1887 and second structural unit was later acquired. Besides the organizers, officials have included Jeff Nutt (1900-32); C.H. Bencini (1935-36); Jake Green (1936-48); Henry Zweifel (1929-70); John S. Luton (1952- ). The hand-hewn native limestone structure is a good example of Victorian commercial building. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The first section of this hand-hewn native limestone building went up in 1883, the same year D.C. Cogdell and John H. Traylor opened a private bank in the young town of Granbury. The institution earned a national bank charter in 1887 and later expanded into an adjoining unit, its Victorian storefront reflecting the confidence of a growing Hood County seat. A roster of long-serving officers, some staying decades, steered the bank across the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Why it matters
The bank is a well-preserved example of the frontier-town commercial architecture and local finance that underpinned the growth of small Texas county seats in the Gilded Age.
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Related people
- · D.C. Cogdell
- · John H. Traylor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Born in England, raised in Ohio, and a Union Army veteran, E. A. "Doc" Hannaford came to Granbury in 1871 and opened his drugstore in a tent before prospering. In 1886 he and merchant J. D. Baker put up a two-part Italianate commercial building — among the first stone structures in town — known as the "Arch Block," its cornice advertising Hannaford's Drug and Book Store. He became a leading civic figure, and the upper floor housed the local newspaper, doctors' offices, and a beauty parlor.
The Fair
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Andy Aston built this Granbury square building in 1888 as a harness and saddle-making shop, and decorative ironwork was added during a 1906 remodeling while George Landers held a share of the business. After the harness trade moved out around 1908, a parade of retailers filled the space—Joe Kerr's grocery, several dry-goods firms, and the store that gave the building its name, "The Fair." Among the neighboring merchants was one nicknamed "Blue-Front Riley" for the painted facade of his earlier shop.
J.F. and J. Nutt Building
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Blind brothers Jesse and Jacob Nutt helped establish Granbury as the Hood County seat, opening their first store in 1866 in a tiny log house with a wagon yard behind it. In 1893 a local contractor raised this sturdy building of hand-hewn Hood County stone, and around 1919 it became the Nutt Hotel, celebrated for its dining room. Three generations of the Nutt family occupied the landmark.
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