The Sonora City Hall, located in the handsome and historic former First National Bank Building in downtown Sonora.
Although the Sonora First National Bank has moved out of this building, the bank (now known as Sonora bank) is very much involved in serving this part of West Texas: (
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"The First National Bank of Sonora was organized by E.R. Jackson in 1900, only 10 years after Sonora became a town. The move to organize a bank was deemed foolhardy by some who had already seen two financial institutions fail. The organizational meeting was held on May 3, 1900, with E.R. Jackson, E.F. Vander Stucken, W.L. Aldwell, D.A. Cauthorn, J. Lewenthal, S.G. Tayloe, George S. Allison, R.F. Halbert and Walter Whitehead in attendance. The first directors elected at the meeting were: E.R. Jackson, President; W.L. Aldwell, Cashier; E.F. Vander Stucken, Vice President; W.E. Whitehead; George S. Allison; R.F. Halbert and D.A. Cauthorn.
A building committee was appointed. The contract for construction of the building was given to B.F. Bellows, plans for the building having been drawn by Oscar O. Rufini. The stone work was done by John Swinburn. Because of the slight delay in completing construction of the building, the bank opened for business on August 15, 1900, in the office of Mr. Vander Stucken's general store, staying there a few days and then going to the Hagerlund Brothers' store for two or three more weeks until the new building was completed. The cost of the structure was $2,500.00.
In 1928 a new home and office building for the First National Bank was constructed on one of the main corners of the city. First National Bank occupied this building until 1978 when the offices were moved across the street to its current location at 102 E. Main Street.
In 1995 the Bank expanded to include a branch in San Angelo, Texas, known as the San Angelo Banking Center, located at 5710 Sherwood Way, and later another branch was opened at 2502 Southland Blvd. In early 2009, we opened a new branch, the Boerne Banking Center, at 122 W. Bandera in Boerne, Texas.
The first report to the Comptroller of the Currency of the condition of the First National Bank was made at the close of business on September 5, 1900, after the institution had been organized less than a month. Resources were shown in total $88,128.87. Total assets as of December 31, 2011 were $313,430,000 with total deposits of $274,506,000 and loans of $192,540,000.
The First National Bank of Sonora / San Angelo Banking Center / Boerne Banking Center, today collectively known as Sonora Bank, continues to be a family owned community bank with many of the descendants of the original Board of Directors serving on the current Board. They are Ronald Cox, Claire Jones, Jo Bess Jackson, Edwin E. Sawyer III, Ben Pool, Israel Pena and Bob Malone.
The Directors and Staff strive to fulfill our mission of "Providing Excellent, Professional Financial Services in a Hometown Atmosphere"."