First National Bank of Jefferson

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the First National Bank of Jefferson. Now settle in, because this story starts not with a bank, but with a man and a mercantile. Thomas J.

Rogers, born in 1832, came to Jefferson, Texas, in 1856. He was a Mississippi native, and whatever brought him to Jefferson, he put down roots. Then the Civil War came, and Rogers went with it.

He came back wearing the rank of captain, and in 1868 he got to work right here in this block, establishing a mercantile business. That's where the story really gets its legs. By 1896, Rogers and his son Ben F.

Rogers opened private banking facilities right inside that store. Father and son, same block, same vision. Eight years after that, the private bank received a Federal charter and became the Rogers National Bank.

Now Thomas J. Rogers lived until 1918, and following his death, Ben opened the Rogers State Bank and Trust, also right here in this block, at another site within it. That bank closed in 1928 and was succeeded by the Jefferson Bank and Trust, which later incorporated as the Jefferson State Bank and remained in operation until 1932.

Meanwhile, the Commercial National Bank had set up shop here too, starting in 1907, running until 1920. So for a stretch, this one block in Jefferson was practically doing the work of a whole financial district. Then came the 1930s, and the economic depression that shook the nation to its foundations.

Banks were failing. Confidence was crumbling. And in 1933, President Franklin D.

Roosevelt ordered the closing of the nation's banks. Now here is where the Rogers National Bank earns its place in the telling. It remained sound through all of it.

When the reopening came, the Rogers National Bank was one of the first institutions to reopen without a special examination. Not patched up, not propped up. Just sound.

A reorganization in 1950 brought the final name into place: the First National Bank of Jefferson. And the present facility you see today, constructed right on the site of the original bank, is modeled after T. J.

Rogers' own building. A man arrives in 1856, builds a store, builds a bank, and decades later the walls still echo his name. That block remembers.

What the marker says

Thomas J. Rogers (1832-1918), a native of Mississippi, came to Jefferson in 1856. After serving in the Civil War, where he attained the rank of captain, he returned here and in 1868 established a mercantile business in this block. In partnership with his son Ben F. Rogers, he opened private banking facilities in the store in 1896. Eight years later the private bank received a Federal charter, as the Rogers National Bank. Following the death of his father, Ben opened the Rogers State Bank and Trust at another site in this block. It closed in 1928 and was succeeded by the Jefferson Bank and Trust. Later incorporated as the Jefferson State Bank, it remained in operation until 1932. The Commercial National Bank, started in 1907, was also located here until 1920. During the economic depression of the 1930s, the Rogers National Bank remained sound. It was one of the first institutions to reopen without a special examination after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 closing of the nation's banks. A reorganization in 1950 resulted in the formation of the First National Bank of Jefferson. The present facility, constructed on the site of the original bank, is modeled after T. J. Rogers' building.