Wallis State Bank
Wallis, Austin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Settlement in this area began in the late 1830s. In 1880, when the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway built a spur from Galveston to Temple, circumventing Houston, the community became known as Wallis Station and later Wallis, after a rail company executive. As the population grew with new residents and businesses, the community’s need for a bank became apparent. In January 1906, with a capital investment of $10,000, D.N. Harris, F.D. Brandt, J.H. Thompson, R.W. Thompson, J.F. Walters, L. Tillotson and W.A. Matthaei established the Wallis State Bank. Harris served as the bank’s first president, Matthaei as secretary and O.R. Prouty as first cashier. The bank began its operations at this site, and in 1912, the company constructed a two-story brick building to replace the original small frame structure. The board of directors leased portions of the second floor to the justice of the peace and a Masonic lodge. In 1918, the local economy justified the creation of a second bank, known as the Guaranty State Bank of Wallis. It merged with Wallis State Bank in 1927. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Wallis State Bank expanded its business by opening branches in Fulshear, Houston, Meadows Place and San Antonio, and it also acquired Wallis and Eagle Lake branches of another banking institution. Along the way, the bank constructed new facilities here. Bank records indicate the ways of business in small town Texas over the years, with loans secured by collateral such as tractors, cows and horses. For more than 100 years, the bank has served Wallis residents, representing local strength and security. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway ran a spur through this Austin County settlement in 1880, the community took the name Wallis after a rail executive and quickly grew. In 1906 seven local businessmen pooled a $10,000 investment to charter the Wallis State Bank, which soon outgrew its frame quarters for a two-story brick building whose upper floor housed the justice of the peace and a Masonic lodge. Its ledgers, with loans secured by tractors, cows, and horses, trace more than a century of small-town Texas commerce.
Why it matters
The bank's story illustrates how the railroad and a locally owned bank together turned a rail siding into a lasting agricultural town.
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Related people
- · D.N. Harris
- · W.A. Matthaei
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Wallis Cemetery
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This burial ground, also called the Protestant Cemetery, has served the Wallis area since the 1890s. The community began as Bovine Bend, founded by Kentucky settlers William and Lydia Guyler in 1859; when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway ran a spur through in 1880, Guyler sold his land, moved to the new town, and it was renamed for the railroad's chief engineer, Joseph Wallis. Farmers, merchants, railroad workers, a physician-minister, and veterans dating to the Civil War rest here beneath obelisks and interior fencing.
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