First National Bank
Canyon, Randall County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Organized Jan. 5, 1900, by L. T. Lester, S. F. Sullenberger, and 19 others. First bank in region immediately south of Amarillo. Was vital factor in developing city and county. Was involved continuously with civic programs. Lester served as chairman of the committee to secure West Texas State University. Originally, called Stockman's National Bank, prospered on its reputation of friendliness and trust. Has been in four different buildings during its existance. Presidents included L. T. Lester, T. W. Reid, Roy Wright, W. C. Black, Levi Cole, and W. E. Adams. (1968) supplemental: First National Bank was acquired by Norwest in 1994 and merged with Wells Fargo in 1999. It is housed under the name of Wells Fargo.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Organized in 1900 by L. T. Lester, S. F. Sullenberger, and nineteen others, this was the first bank in the region just south of Amarillo, opening as the Stockman's National Bank. It grew alongside the young city of Canyon and Randall County, and its founders threw themselves into civic causes—Lester chaired the committee that landed West Texas State University for the town. Over the decades the bank occupied four different buildings before later mergers carried its business into Wells Fargo.
Why it matters
It shows how a local bank could serve as the financial backbone of a frontier town, funding the schools, institutions, and growth that turned a young settlement into a lasting city.
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Related people
- · L. T. Lester
- · S. F. Sullenberger
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First National Bank Building
Canyon, TX
Two years after the Santa Fe Railway reached Canyon City in 1898, rancher-banker L.T. Lester opened the Stockman's National Bank, reorganized in 1904 as the First National Bank of Canyon City. To house it he hired St. Louis architect R.G. Kirsch—designer of the Randall County courthouse—whose 1909 Neoclassical building, with its Doric columns, pilasters, and dentil course, still commands the commercial district. Though the bank moved out in 1951, the showplace structure endured as a Panhandle landmark.
Smith Building (Palace Hotel)
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J. Frank Smith raised this commercial building in 1906, the very year Canyon incorporated as a town, and served on its first board of aldermen while running a land company upstairs. The ground floor first held the Canyon Mercantile & Hardware Store, and in 1912 S. B. McClure opened the Palace Hotel here, sharing space over the years with a cafe. Through several owners the Palace Hotel served travelers and townspeople until it finally closed in 1960.
The Canyon News
Canyon, TX
The Canyon News traces its lineage to the Echo of 1889, the first newspaper in this Panhandle town, and to the Stayer of 1896, later renamed the Randall County News. Its most celebrated editor, Clyde W. Warwick, ran the paper for forty-five years and won state and national honors for outstanding weekly journalism, including a 1949 special edition rated the best in the nation. The paper carried on under new editors into the postwar decades.
Neblett Hospital and Clinic
Canyon, TX
The Panhandle town of Canyon spent years trying and failing to fund a public hospital before Dr. Robert A. Neblett stepped in. A Tennessee-born, University of Texas–trained specialist in children's medicine, he announced in 1937 that he would build one himself, and that year a sixteen-room, air-conditioned hospital rose on 16th Street. It closed while he served nearly two and a half years in the Pacific during World War II, reopened on his return, and cared for Canyon residents and West Texas State students until 1975.