George H. Paul Building Site

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1903, a pair of railroads crossed paths out in Nueces County. The Texas-Mexican and the St.

Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroads met right there, and where railroads meet, towns have a way of appearing. That's how Robstown got its start. But the town really hit its stride when a land developer named George H.

Paul came into the picture. Paul didn't think small. He organized the George H.

Paul Land Co., went out and acquired about three hundred thousand acres from nearby ranches, and started subdividing all of it into cotton farms. To move that kind of land, you need buyers, and buyers don't always come to you. So Paul put his agents on special trains and sent them rolling east and into the Midwest to find prospective buyers and tell them about this corner of Texas.

It worked. The town grew rapidly. And right at the center of all that activity stood the Paul Building.

Two stories, red brick, erected right here at this location in 1908. Now that building was carrying some weight, and I don't just mean the masonry. Its first floor was home to the Howard and Jacoby General Store.

Upstairs and around it, the building also housed Robstown's first school. Church services were held in a community room inside those same walls. And out back, a windmill and a well provided the town's water supply.

One building doing the work of a whole town, which is pretty much what a town needs when it's just getting started. Then in 1913, a man named William H. Daimwood, folks called him Bill, organized the Guaranty State Bank.

By 1924, that bank had moved into the Paul Building. The following year it was renamed the State National Bank of Robstown, and when the Great Depression rolled through in the 1930s, that bank held. While plenty of institutions buckled across the country, this one was noted for its stability.

Not a small thing. Not a small thing at all. The Paul Building itself, though, couldn't hold forever.

By 1972 the structure had become unsafe, and it was demolished. A new bank facility went up at the very same site. So the corner didn't go quiet.

It just changed its clothes. The building is gone, but the story of what it held, a store, a school, a church, a bank that wouldn't break, that story stays right here on this marker.

What the marker says

Robstown began in 1903 at the merger point of the Texas-Mexican and the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railroads. The town grew rapidly after the arrival of land developer George H. Paul. He organized the George H. Paul Land Co., acquired about 300,000 acres of land from nearby ranches, and subdivided the property into cotton farms. Special trains transported Paul's land agents to the East and Midwest to interest prospective buyers in the area. The hub of activities in the new community was the Paul Building, a two story red brick structure erected at this location in 1908. Its first floor was occupied by the Howard and Jacoby General Store. The multi-purpose building also housed Robstown's first school and a community room where church services were held. A windmill and well behind the structure provided the town's water supply. The Guaranty State Bank, organized in 1913 by William H. ("Bill") Daimwood, occupied the Paul Building in 1924. Renamed the State National Bank of Robstown in 1925, it was noted for its stability in the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Paul Building was demolished in 1972, after the structure became unsafe, and a new bank facility was erected at the site. (1976)