First National Bank

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way back around 1898, two men named G. W.

Riddle and C. H. Davison put their heads together and organized a private bank in Polk County.

They called it the Polk County Bank, and for a few years, that was that. But 1902. Now there is a year worth pausing on.

That was the year the town burned. The whole town. And right in the middle of that ash and ruin, the bank came back, reorganized under a new name, the Citizens National Bank, and it came back in brick.

Livingston's first brick building, in fact. You want to talk about a statement. When everything around you has gone to cinders, you build in brick.

The story doesn't stop there either. Come 1910, the bank was reorganized again, this time as the First National Bank, with a man named John W. Cochran serving as president.

Three names, two reorganizations, one fire, and one building that refused to be anything but permanent. That is the kind of institution that earns a marker.

What the marker says

Organized as a private bank -- Polk County Bank -- about 1898, by G. W. Riddle and C. H. Davison. Became Citizens National Bank in 1902, year the town burned. Rebuilt as Livingston's first brick building. Was reorganized 1910 as First National Bank, with John W. Cochran president. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967