First National Bank - 1890

First National Bank - 1890. . In the 1880s Nacogdoches was beginning to replace its wooden commercial structures with brick buildings. The wooden mercantile structure which was standing on this lot belonged to Asa Moore and as late as 1887-88 had served as the temporary home of the District Courts in Nacogdoches County. A group of investors, including George H. Davidson, Paul M. Richardson, and J.P. Sutchen, purchased this lot and the one to the north from the Hoya, Moore, and Rusche estates and in 1890 commissioned architect D. Rulfs to replace the wooden buildings with matching brick ones which would extend in depth to match the first Mayer and Schmidt building next door built around 1879. The new rectangular buildings had flat roofs, each with three bays and cast iron columns supporting the facade; a wood awning protected the sidewalk in front., While still under construction, the newly formed First National Bank of Nacogdoches bought this building for its new home. Though not the first bank in Nacogdoches, which was the Wettermark Bank dating from 1883, the new First National Bank was the first in town to have a national charter (August, 1890) and the first to have a brick building out of which to conduct business. John P. Davidson, a native of Alabama who came with his brother George to Texas around 1850, organized the bank with a capitalization of $50,000. Other stockholders included: J.W. Shipman, James P. Sutphen, Gus Levy, and J.E. Mayfield. The bank only lasted a decade and closed its doors at the end of 1899, leaving the Wettermark Bank once again the only bank operating in Nacogdoches. The closure of the First National Bank and the later collapse of the Wettermark Bank in 1903 paved the way for two new banks in the city, Commercial National Bank (1901) and the Stone Fort National Bank (1903)., Late owners, who included John P. Slay and then Marcy Lucas, leased the building to a variety of businesses. For a time it was the Royal Movie Theater, then a barber shop, Western Union, a professional office and a series of mercantile shops in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1999 Diana Walker and Taylor and Gerry Larabee purchased this building, removed the stucco which covered the facade, and restored the front of the building to an earlier period. In the remodeling of the structure, the footing for the bank vault (a basement-like room) and a well were discovered beneath the floor. After becoming sole owners, the Larabees moved their Heart of Texas shop into the building.