Farmers State Bank and Reinstein Store

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Farmers State Bank and Reinstein Store in Chappell Hill, Washington County. Now, Chappell Hill had been an agricultural community since 1847. Farmers putting down roots, crops going in, years rolling by.

But for all that honest labor, for all those harvests hauled to market, the town had no bank. Not one. Decades passed without so much as a vault door in sight.

Then the early nineteen hundreds arrived, and something shifted. A population boom rolled through Chappell Hill, bringing wealth and economic prosperity right along with it. Suddenly, people had money that needed a proper home.

So in March of 1907, Farmers State Bank organized. And they didn't waste any time, either. By September of that same year, the doors were open, with a man named J.

J. Shaver serving as president. Now, when it came time to build, they weren't settling for just any structure.

Alex Griffin of Brenham was awarded the contract, and the specification was clear: fireproof. What rose on that lot was a one-story building with large storefront panels, transoms, and a plaster over brick finish. Solid.

Built to last. And last it did. In 1986, the bank was renamed Chappell Hill Bank.

But the story doesn't stop there, because somewhere along the way it also acquired a neighbor with its own history. The W. R.

Reinstein Store, built in 1878, a one-story, four-bay brick building with arched entry doors, a stepped parapet, and decorative brick corbelling. Two buildings, two eras, standing together on the same ground. One built for money, one built for goods, both built to endure.

In Chappell Hill, that's not a coincidence. That's just how a community holds onto itself.

What the marker says

Chappell Hill began as an agricultural community in 1847 but had no bank until a population boom in the early 1900s brought wealth and economic prosperity. Farmers State Bank organized in March 1907 and opened in September of that year with J. J. Shaver as president. Alex Griffin of Brenham was awarded the contract for the construction of a fireproof building. The one-story bank features large storefront panels and transoms and a plaster over brick finish. The bank, renamed Chappell Hill Bank in 1986, also acquired the 1878 W. R. Reinstein Store, a one-story, four-bay brick building with arched entry doors, a stepped parapet and decorative brick corbelling. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2009