Midland National Bank

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. On August 22, 1902, a bank was born in Odessa. They called it the Odessa National Bank, and they started it with a modest twenty-five thousand dollars in capital.

Now, that might not sound like much, but out here in West Texas at the turn of the century, it was enough to open the doors and start doing business. The ink had barely dried, though, before the shareholders looked around, looked at each other, and voted to pack up and move to Midland. Less than a year after it opened, the Odessa National Bank ceased to be, and the Midland National Bank took its place.

They set up shop in the Llano hotel building, right there on the corner of Wall and Main Street. Early on, the institution had some prominent folks steering the ship, names like D.W. Brunson, Andrew Fasken, and Ralph Barron.

The bank's fortunes were tied up pretty tight with the cattle industry, and for a good while, that was just fine. Then came a prolonged drought. A real one.

The kind that doesn't just hurt, it reorganizes things. And that's exactly what happened. The economic crisis that drought caused led to the bank's reorganization in 1923.

But here's where the story turns. By 1927, oil had become the major business of the bank. The cattle era was giving way to something else entirely out under that West Texas sky.

And from that point on, the bank rode the oil business through every boom and every bust the industry could throw at it, and it kept right on operating. In 1953 they put up a new three-story building on the corner of Texas and Big Spring. Four years after that, a nine-story tower went up alongside it.

The bank was growing, and it wasn't shy about showing it. In 1968 it merged with the Bank of the Southwest. Then in 1976 a new fourteen-story building was completed right here at this site.

And in 1983, after more than eighty years of name changes and drought and oil booms and everything else West Texas could conjure, the institution became First City National Bank of Midland. Started as one thing, moved, renamed, reorganized, rebuilt, merged, and rebuilt again. That's not just a bank.

That's a West Texas survival story.

What the marker says

Organized on August 22, 1902, in Odessa as Odessa National Bank, this institution began with an initial capital of $25, 000. Less than one year later the bank's shareholders voted to relocate to Midland and the institution became Midland National Bank. The bank set up offices in the Llano hotel building at the corner of Wall and Main Street. Early leadership for the institution was provided by such prominent people as D.W. Brunson, Andrew Fasken, and Ralph Barron. With its business largely dependent upon the cattle industry, the bank served its customers until a prolonged drought caused an economic crisis which led to its reorganization in 1923. By 1927 the oil industry had become the major business of the bank. Throughout the subsequent "boom and bust" years of the oil business, the bank has continued operations. A new three-story bank building was erected in 1953 on the corner of Texas and Big Spring, and a nine-story tower was added four years after. In a continued period of growth, the bank merged with the Bank of the Southwest in 1968. A new fourteen-story building was completed at this site in 1976. In 1983 the bank's name was changed to First City National Bank of Midland.