HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

First State Bank Building

Richland Springs, San Saba County, Texas

Marker Inscription

In 1910, Richland Springs businessman John Burleson contracted with Enoch Archer to construct this building to house his banking business. In addition to the bank, the building housed other businesses, including retail shops and medical offices. Constructed of locally quarried sandstone, it features stained glass windows and two gray granite columns flanking the entrance. The beneficiary of local preservation efforts at the end of the 20th century, the building is a significant part of the community's architectural heritage. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2001

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

In 1910 Richland Springs businessman John Burleson hired builder Enoch Archer to construct this sandstone building to house his new bank. Beyond the bank, it sheltered retail shops and medical offices, and it was built of locally quarried stone with stained glass windows and two gray granite columns flanking the entrance. Saved by local preservation efforts at the end of the 20th century, it remains a signature piece of the town's architectural heritage.

Why it matters

Built of locally quarried stone, the building embodies how small Texas towns invested civic pride in durable, homegrown commercial architecture during the early 20th century.

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Related people

  • · John Burleson
  • · Enoch Archer

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

First State Bank in Richland Springs

Richland Springs, TX

John M. Burleson founded the Burleson Bank in 1910 to serve the small community of Richland Springs, reorganizing it as the First State Bank in 1913. Under later director W. H. Gibbons the bank endured a 1928 armed robbery, and amid the upheavals of 1933 it was renamed the People's State Bank under federal protection. The institution served the town until the Texas Banking Commission liquidated it in 1958.

Whitis-Moore House

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In 1905 Austin banker John H. Whitis arrived in San Saba to help found the First National Bank and commissioned builder A.T. McLellan to raise this Queen Anne house, finished that October. When the Whitis family returned to Austin, the home passed to Irene Clark and then to her daughter Cornelia and son-in-law Alex Enoch Moore, a family active in civic life and the Presbyterian Church who kept the house until 1973. Its spindlework, turned posts, and cross-gabled hipped roof preserve the exuberant residential taste of turn-of-the-century central Texas.

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