First State Bank of Rankin
Rankin, Upton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded in 1911 on the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, the town of Rankin saw for immense oil fields discovered in its trade area in 1923-1926. Local business expanded greatly. The first state bank of Rankin-- Upton County's first financial institution-- opened June 4,1927. Original officers were John F. Lane, business and civic leader, president; J. P. Rankin, rancher, vice president. Directors: Harry Baldwin, oil man; T. J. Murphy, Rancher; G. W. Newberry, merchant; W. M. Noelke, rancher; B. S. Taylor, merchant. W. H. Holcombe served as the bank's first cashier.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1911 on the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railroad, Rankin exploded with activity when immense oil fields were discovered in its trade area between 1923 and 1926. To serve the booming economy, the First State Bank of Rankin—Upton County's first financial institution—opened its doors in June 1927. Its founding officers and directors read as a roster of the ranchers, oilmen, and merchants driving the region's growth.
Why it matters
The bank's arrival captures the moment a sleepy railroad town was transformed by a West Texas oil rush that reshaped the state's economy in the 1920s.
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Related people
- · John F. Lane
- · J. P. Rankin
Related events
- · Permian Basin oil boom
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Founded in 1915 by civic leaders including Ira Yates and Dr. J. H. Johnson soon after the town of Rankin took shape, this cemetery received its first burial—Johnson's young niece—in 1916. Its graves multiplied in the 1920s as oil strikes in Upton and Pecos counties swelled the local population. Among its residents, tradition holds, lie the unmarked graves of two bank robbers.
Upton County
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Carved from Tom Green County and created in 1887, Upton County was not fully organized until 1910. It honors John Cunningham Upton, a distinguished Confederate officer killed at the Second Battle of Manassas in 1862. A land of cattle and sheep ranches, the county later saw oil wells rise across its range, and its seat moved from Upland to Rankin in 1921.
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