First National Bank in Rhome

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First National Bank in Rhome. Now, Wise County has seen its share of big names, and Dan Waggoner was about as prominent as they came in this part of Texas. In 1904, Waggoner, a businessman of some standing in the area, decided that Rhome needed a financial institution of its own.

So he started one, as a branch of his privately-owned bank up in Decatur, fifteen miles to the northwest. That's the kind of reach a man like that had. His son, W.T.

Waggoner, served for a time as president of the place, so you could say banking was something of a family affair. Then came 1914, and the bank earned itself a national charter. That's when it stopped being just a branch of somebody's private operation and became, officially, the First National Bank in Rhome.

It grew steadily through the years, which sounds simple enough, until you remember what those years included. The Great Depression came rollin through like a slow storm that never seemed to end, and banks were fallin all across this country, one after another. But this one held.

Sound financial policies, the marker says, and those three words carry a whole lot of weight when you think about what was happenin everywhere else. Headquartered downtown for more than seventy years, the bank finally settled at this very site in 1975, and that's right where it stands. Some institutions bend.

Some break. This one just kept the doors open.

What the marker says

Prominent area businessman Dan Waggoner began this financial institution in 1904 as a branch of his privately-owned bank in Decatur (15 mi. NW). His son, W.T., served for a time as its president. Rhome's first bank was given a national charter in 1914 and grew steadily through the years. Its sound financial policies enabled it to survive the period of the Great Depression. Headquartered downtown for more than seventy years, the First National Bank in Rhome has been located at this site since 1975. (1984)