Texas Bank Buildings, Banks of Texas, Bank Robberies & Stories. (original) (raw)
They made their appearance in Texas towns after hotels and saloons, but before opera houses and city halls. They occupied the most prominent corners of the town square and their doors opened to both streets. Their architecture rivaled the county courthouse and many were designed by the same architects. With marble counters and bronze teller's cages, small town banks had the interior prestige of post offices. Their exteriors were Greco-Roman temples with columns that reached to the heavens. They were impregnable fortresses where the businessman kept his gold, the tradesman kept his silver and where newsboys kept their copper pennies.
Then the unthinkable happened - they failed. After the Great Depression the architectural prestige of the bank was tarnished. Their vaults were just full of paper (and forclosures) and their columns proved to be hollow. In the 50s they modernized. They added automatic doors, and time/ temperature signs that never worked properly. All across Texas these once noble buildings were left vacant or became Mexican restaurants and antique stores. Only in the downtowns of larger cities do they retain some of the dignity they once had. Here is a celebration of bank architecture in Texas - from the big cities to towns too small to have a drive-up window. � John Troesser
"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain." - Robert Frost
Texas Bank Buildings - Images:
Anna Martin, Frontier Banker by Michael Barr Anna Martin is an entrepreneurial legend. She is believed to be the first woman bank president in Texas and one of the first in the United States.
Banker Smith by Michael Barr Quite a few banks defaulted during the Panic of 1907, but the Bank of Fredericksburg, along with two other East Texas banks run by Banker Smith, weathered the crisis without closing doors or limiting withdrawals.
