DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friend, this one's worth tellin'. Way back in 1886, a man named William J. McDonald organized and opened the First National Bank of Paris, right there on the very ground where it still stands today.
Now McDonald wasn't just any banker. He was a Civil War veteran, a lawyer, and by all accounts the kind of man who knew exactly what he was doing. Before Paris, he'd already opened the Citizens Bank of Clarksville, and then in 1889 he went and established a Delta County Bank on top of that.
Under his leadership, those banks prospered — and the marker uses the word shrewd, which tells you something right there. He was careful about who he lent money to. But here's the part that'll stay with you: once he made a loan, he was lenient about gettin' it back.
Seldom foreclosed. In a world full of bankers who'd take your land before the ink dried, that mattered to people. Alongside McDonald, the original stockholders included George F.
Hicks, A. G. Hubbard, Edward Reuss, and R.
F. Scott, Sr. — a founding circle that helped get the whole thing off the ground. McDonald served as bank president for many years, and when he died in 1926, he left the bulk of his estate to the University of Texas to erect an observatory.
That observatory, out in West Texas, was dedicated in 1939 — McDonald Observatory, carrying his name into the night sky long after he was gone. Now, the present bank building was completed in 1916. And less than three months later — less than three months — it was gutted by a ruinous, city-wide fire.
The kind of fire that doesn't just take one building, it takes a whole town's sense of permanence along with it. But within the year, the building was restored. It came back.
And that stubbornness, that refusal to fold, turned out to be a preview of what was coming. Because when the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, this bank stood firm. Its loans enabled merchants and farmers — real people, people who might have lost everything — to stay in business.
A bulwark of the area's economy, the marker calls it, and that's not just a pretty phrase. That's what it meant to the folks who needed it most. In 1951, the bank portion of the building was remodeled, and at the time this marker was placed in 1969, Michel T.
Halbouty was serving as chairman of the board and C. Glynn Lowe as president. From a Civil War veteran's vision in 1886 to an observatory watching the stars above West Texas — that's one bank that left a long shadow, and most of it pointed upward.
What the marker says
Organized and opened for business at its present location in 1886 by William J. McDonald (1844-1926), Civil War veteran and lawyer. Earlier he had opened the Citizens Bank of Clarksville and in 1889 he established a Delta County Bank. Under his shrewd leadership the banks prospered. Although careful in the granting of loans, he was also lenient about their repayment and seldom foreclosed. Aside from McDonald, the original stockholders included George F. Hicks, A. G. Hubbard, Edward Reuss, and R. F. Scott, Sr. McDonald was bank president for many years and upon his death, left the bulk of his estate to the University of Texas to erect an observatory. In 1939 McDonald Observatory, in West Texas, was dedicated. Present bank building was completed in 1916, but less than 3 months later was gutted by a ruinous city-wide fire. Within the year, however, it was restored. Throughout the years, the bank has been a bulwark of the area's economy. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, its loans enabled many merchants and farmers to stay in business. In 1951 the bank portion of the building was remodeled. The present chairman of the board is Michel T. Halbouty and president is C. Glynn Lowe.