First National Bank of Decatur

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it: let me walk you through the story of the First National Bank of Decatur. Now, 1883 was a time when Wise County was still very much in the business of becoming something. And a handful of men in Decatur decided they weren't going to wait around to find out what it might become; they were going to help build it themselves.

Dan Waggoner, Henry Greathouse, and a circle of pioneer businessmen organized a financial institution right there in town. The First National Bank of Decatur was open for business. But here's where the story gets interesting.

Dan Waggoner had a son, W. T. Waggoner, born in 1854, and this younger Waggoner was not exactly a man who sat still.

He made himself into a prominent Texas cattleman and oilman, the kind of figure whose name carries weight across a whole region. And in 1904, W. T.

Waggoner took the helm of that bank his father helped start, stepping in as president. Now, thirty years is a long time to lead anything. And W.

T. Waggoner happened to be at the wheel when the worst financial storm in American history came rolling through. The Depression.

The kind of event that swallowed banks whole, left towns hollowed out, turned confidence to dust. But W. T.

Waggoner's leadership (steady, sound, the marker calls it) kept that institution on its feet. The First National Bank of Decatur didn't just survive. It became a leader in developing the Wise County area.

W. T. Waggoner served as president until his death in 1934.

Thirty years, start to finish, one man's hand on the tiller. For over eighty years, that bank held its place on Decatur's town square, right at the heart of things, as a bank on a town square ought to be. Then in 1966, it moved to a new site.

Same institution, new address. The kind of move that says: we're not goin' anywhere.

What the marker says

This financial institution was organized in 1883 by Decatur bankers Dan Waggoner, Henry Greathouse, and other pioneer businessmen. Waggoner's son, W. T. Waggoner (b. 1854), a prominent Texas cattleman and oilman, served as bank president from 1904 until his death in 1934. His sound leadership enabled the bank to survive the Depression and become a leader in developing the Wise County area. Located on Decatur's town square for over eighty years, the First National Bank moved to this site in 1966.