The First Bank in Big Lake

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight with a little color on top. Now, Big Lake sits out there in Reagan County, and every town worth its salt needs somewhere to put the salt, if you follow me. So on March 29, 1913, a handful of men sat down together for the very first stockholders meeting and made it official.

The First State Bank of Big Lake was open for business, capitalized at fifteen thousand dollars. Not a fortune by any stretch, but in Reagan County in 1913, that was real money, and real ambition. Seven men put their names on that original board of directors.

James Belcher. P. H.

Coates. Henry Japson. C.

C. Sanders. W.

M. Schneemann, Jr. J.

M. Shannon. And J.

H. Wilson. Seven names, one room.

That's right, one room in this very structure. That's where the first bank in Reagan County took root. Now the building didn't stay just a bank, and the bank didn't stay just a name.

Time has a way of moving things along. That same structure, the one that held that single room where Reagan County's first bank opened its doors, eventually came to house the Reagan State Bank, a successor institution, which opened for business on September 2, 1969. One building, one room, two banks across the years, and all of it happening right here on this site.

Seven men, fifteen thousand dollars, and a room. That's how a county gets its first bank.

What the marker says

On this site the first bank in Reagan County was founded, with capital stock of $15,000.00. The initial stockholders meeting was held on March 29, 1913. The title of the institution was the First State Bank of Big Lake. On the original board of directors were James Belcher, P. H. Coates, Henry Japson, C. C. Sanders, W. M. Schneemann, Jr., J. M. Shannon, and J. H. Wilson. That bank began its operations in one room of this structure now used exclusively to house the Reagan State Bank, a successor institution, which was opened for business on September 2, 1969.