Caldwell National Bank

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the voice carrying the tale down the road. Picture a cold January morning, the twenty-fourth to be exact, in the year nineteen oh three. A group of local businessmen gathered together in Caldwell with a single purpose in mind: they were going to build a bank.

At the head of that gathering stood two men, J. J. Lane and C.

C. Nelms, and around them sat thirty original stock subscribers who meant business. They pledged twenty-five thousand dollars in organizational capital right then and there, and the following month, the institution opened its doors.

Federal Charter Number sixty-six oh seven. That's the number that made it official, that made it real. And with that charter, the Caldwell National Bank became the first and the oldest publicly owned financial institution in all of Burleson County.

Now that's a distinction you don't give back. The early years brought growth. Capital increased, ambitions grew, and in nineteen oh six the directors made a move that would shape the bank's future.

They voted to purchase the assets of the First National Bank, another Caldwell financial institution that had been operating under the direction of a man named William Reeves. One institution folding into another, the way rivers do out here on the Texas plain. Three years after that purchase, Caldwell National Bank picked up and moved its operations to the very site where this marker now stands.

The original building here eventually gave way to a larger facility, because that's what a growing institution does. It outgrows itself. And then there's C.

C. Nelms. He was there at the beginning, one of the two men who called that January meeting in nineteen oh three.

A Burleson County native. He became president of the bank in nineteen twenty-three, and then chairman of the board in nineteen fifty-three. He died in nineteen sixty-one, after fifty-eight years of service to the institution he helped bring into the world.

Fifty-eight years. The bank he helped charter outlasted nearly every soul in that original room, and it kept right on going, a growing yet stable financial force in Caldwell and in Burleson County, a leader in the development of the community since the turn of the century. Some things are built to last.

This was one of them.

What the marker says

On January 24, 1903, a group of local businessmen under the direction of J. J. Lane and C. C. Nelms met for the purpose of establishing a national bank. The thirty original stock subscribers who attended pledged $25,000 in organizational capital and the institution opened the following month. Operating under Federal Charter No. 6607, Caldwell National Bank is the first and the oldest publicity owned financial institution in Burleson County. In 1906, following earlier increases in capital, the business was expanded when the directors voted to purchase the assets of the First National Bank, a Caldwell financial institution under the direction of William Reeves. Three years later, Caldwell National Bank operations were moved to this site. The original building here was later replaced by a larger facility. Burleson County native C. C. Nelms became president of the bank in 1923 and was named chairman of the board in 1953. He died in 1961, following 58 years of service to the institution. A growing yet stable financial force in Caldwell and in Burleson County, the Caldwell National Bank has been a leader in the development of the community since the turn of the century. (1981)