Sulphur Springs Loan and Building Association

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. On August 13, 1890, nine men sat down in Sulphur Springs and put their names to a charter. That act, quiet as it probably seemed at the time, would turn out to matter more than any of them likely imagined.

The institution they founded that day, the Sulphur Springs Loan and Building Association, is the oldest surviving savings association in the entire state of Texas. Think about that for a second. Every boom, every bust, every hard year Texas has thrown at the financial world, and this one kept standing.

The charter members were local business leaders: Phil H. Foscue, W. F.

Henderson, T. F. Gafford, L.

H. Avinger, M. G.

Miller, O. M. Pate, John D.

Williams, S. D. Crittenden, and R.

F. Blythe. Nine names on a piece of paper, and T.

F. Gafford stepped up to serve as the first managing officer. They set up shop in a two-story building southeast of the town square, and right away the timing worked in their favor.

The railroad had arrived, and with it came economic growth and development that the whole area was trying to keep pace with. The association leaned into it. They supported urban building projects, rural building projects, home construction.

If Hopkins County was going to grow, these folks were going to help it do the growin. Businesses all across the area trace their roots back to loans this association made in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Walls that still stand today got built on the strength of those handshakes and ledger entries.

Then in 1961, the association moved to new offices right here at this site, a new address for an institution that had been earning its place in the community for the better part of a century. And the work didn't stop at the county line. The benefits of their business practices have spread into a number of northeast Texas communities beyond Hopkins County entirely.

Charitable organizations, civic groups, they've received monetary assistance and the use of meeting space. So the next time you cross into Hopkins County and look at a building that's been standing a good long while, there's a chance, a real honest chance, that somewhere back in the records, this association has its fingerprints on it. Started by nine men on a hot August day in 1890, and still here to tell the tale.

What the marker says

Chartered on August 13, 1890, the Sulphur Springs Loan and Building Association is the oldest surviving savings association in the state of Texas. Charter members of the association included local business leaders Phil H. Foscue, W. F. Henderson, T. F. Gafford, L.. H. Avinger, M. G. Miller, O. M. Pate, John D. Williams, S. D. Crittenden, and R. F. Blythe. T. F. Gafford served as the first managing officer. Originally located in a two-story building southeast of the town square, the association responded to economic growth and development in the area brought about by the arrival of the railroad. Supporting both urban and rural building projects and home construction, the association has played an important role in Hopkins County history. Many of the area's businesses trace their roots to loans made by the association in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The association moved to new offices at this site in 1961. Among its public contributions are the support of numerous charitable and civic organizations through monetary assistance and the donation of meeting space. Benefits of the association's business practices can now be seen beyond the boundaries of Hopkins County in a number of northeast Texas communities.