Hamilton National Bank

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, every good bank needs an origin story, and Hamilton County's got one worth pulling over for. It starts not with a vault, not with a board of directors, not even with a bank.

It starts with a drugstore. J. T.

James and Z. C. Law opened the town's first drugstore back in 1876.

Simple enough. But Law also got himself appointed postmaster, and for that official business he kept a small safe on the premises. A little safe, sitting there in a drugstore.

Nothing fancy. Just doing its job. Then in 1881, Dr.

George Perry came along and bought Law's interest in the store. Law moved on. The safe did not.

That safe stayed right where it was, and that detail matters more than it might seem. Here's where the story gets good. James and Perry, being the kind of men their neighbors trusted, started letting friends keep buckskin bags of coins in that safe.

Buckskin bags of coins, plural, belonging to folks around town. No charter, no teller window, no formal arrangement of any kind. Just a safe in a drugstore and a handshake's worth of trust.

That, friends, was the first bank in Hamilton County. It ran that way, as a private bank, for several years. And then, in 1890, the whole thing got made official.

The Hamilton National Bank was chartered, with Dr. George Perry as president, J. T.

James as vice-president, and J. L. Spurlin and J.

A. Eidson serving as directors. The same men, the same town, the same trust, just with a proper name on it now.

Funny how the grandest institutions sometimes start with the smallest safe.

What the marker says

J. T. James and Z. C. Law had the town's first drugstore in 1876. Law appointed postmaster, used a small safe in official duties. In 1881 Dr. George Perry bought Law's interest, but the safe remained in the store. The first bank in county began when James and Perry let friends keep bucksin bags of coins in the safe. This private bank was in service for several years. In 1890 Hamilton National Bank was chartered with Dr. George Perry, president; J. T. James, vice-president; J. L. Spurlin and J. A. Eidson, directors. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966.