First National Bank of Burkburnett

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the First National Bank of Burkburnett, up in Wichita County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers. You've got a bank, sure, but you've also got the kind of founding roster that makes you stop and read it twice.

The city's oldest business institution, organized on May 15, 1907. That's the date. Mark it.

Because the names attached to it read less like a bank charter and more like a guest list for Texas legend. Joseph A. Kemp, one of the townsite owners himself, stepping in as president.

John G. Hardin, merchant at the time, serving as vice president. And H.

D. Creath holding it all together as cashier. Now, that name Hardin, file it away.

Because the marker tells us he didn't stay a merchant. He became an oil magnate, and later an executive of this very bank. So the vice president's chair he sat in at the start, he'd earn a whole new title for later.

Then there's the matter of one of the original depositors. S. B.

Burnett. The man for whom the town itself was named. Walking into the First National Bank of Burkburnett and making a deposit.

The town's namesake, banking in a town that bore his name, at an institution that would outlast nearly everything around it. Oldest business in the city. Started with the right people in the room on the right day in 1907.

Some institutions just begin that way.

What the marker says

City's oldest business institution, organized May 15, 1907. Joseph A. Kemp, one of townsite owners, was president; John G. Hardin, merchant (and later oil magnate and executive of this bank), vice president; H. D. Creath, cashier. S. B. Burnett, for whom town was named, was one of the original depositors.