DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First National Bank Building in Beaumont, Jefferson County. Pull up a chair, because this one's got oil money, armed escorts, and stone carved with ambition. The First National Bank of Beaumont was founded on April 9, 1889 — and for decades it did what banks do, holdin' and lendin' and watchin' the world turn.
Then came the area's second major oil boom, and with it, an economic revitalization in the 1930s that had the bank's board of directors thinkin' bigger thoughts. On January 16, 1935, they called a special meeting. Now when a bank board calls a special meeting, you know something serious is on the table.
And sure enough, the agenda was this: they were going to build. Present in that room were W. C.
Gilbert, P. B. Doty, E.
E. Plumly, C. H.
Cambers, T. F. Rothwell, J.
S. Gordon, W. P.
H. McFaddin, Dr. Tom Andrus, Stuart Smith, H.
A. Dodd, J. H.
Phelan, Robert Corley, C. E. Broussard, and T.
S. Reed. Fourteen men around a table, deciding what kind of monument Beaumont's banking future deserved.
They chose not one architectural firm but two — Steinman, Steinman, and Goldman, paired with Stone and Pitts — and handed the construction contract to the Knutson Construction Company. What they designed together was an art deco limestone and granite building with stepped-back massing and decorative friezes carved right into the stone: scenes of banking, shipping, lumber, agriculture, and oil. The very industries that built Beaumont, frozen in rock for anyone care to look up.
By February of 1937, it was time to move in. And this is where the story gets a particular Texas flavor. They didn't just load up some boxes and wheel 'em across the lobby.
The cash deposits were moved with armed guards employed for the job. Because when you're movin' a bank's money in Beaumont, Texas, in 1937, you don't leave anything to chance. The First National Bank operated out of that building all the way until 1963, when it finally moved to new facilities — right across the street.
Sometimes the grandest thing you build ends up bein' the one you leave behind, standin' there on the corner with its limestone friezes and its art deco bones, tellin' anybody who'll listen what Beaumont thought of itself when the oil was runnin' and the money was movin' under armed guard.
What the marker says
Founded on April 9, 1889, the First National Bank of Beaumont enjoyed an economic revitalization in the 1930s after the area's second major oil boom. A special meeting of the bank's board of directors was held on January 16, 1935, to discuss plans to erect a new building. Present at the meeting were board members W. C. Gilbert, P. B. Doty, E. E. Plumly, C. H. Cambers, T. F. Rothwell, J. S. Gordon, W. P. H. McFaddin, Dr. Tom Andrus, Stuart Smith, H. A. Dodd, J. H. Phelan, Robert Corley, C. E. Broussard, and T. S. Reed. The two architectural firms of Steinman, Steinman, & Goldman and Stone & Pitts were chosen to design the new building, and the construction contract was awarded to the Knutson Construction Company. The bank moved into the building in February 1937, with armed guards employed to move the cash deposits. Outstanding features of the art deco limestone and granite building include stepped-back massing and decorative friezes depicting various aspects of banking and such local industries as shipping, lumber, agriculture, and oil. The bank continued to operate in this building until 1963, when it moved to new facilities across the street. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1989