First State Bank - Paris, TX
N 33° 39.648 W 095° 33.372
15S E 262975 N 3727478
Built right after the Great Paris Fire of 1916, the old First Bank Building at 33 E Plaza St, Paris, TX looks great after over a hundred years. It's not clear as to whether there's a tenant in there today: It might be a private club.
Waymark Code: WM11EZB
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/10/2019
Views: 2
A walk on the square reveals quite a bit of "1916" or "1917" if the visitor will simply look up near the top of a given building, like here. This building is part of the Paris Commercial Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure. The
DowntownTX website is a great resource in providing some background, as the National Register's
Nomination Form says little other than noting this one as a contributor (as property #25) and capturing it (as the Corner Drug Store) in photos #55-56. Note that while the Nomination Form lists the address as being "39," today, it appears as "33". It replaced whatever was there before the Great Fire of 1916, and these are some past occupants:
1917-24: First State Bank
1926: Bank
1929: Lamar State Bank & Trust Company
1936-40: The Collegiate Shoppe (women's clothing)
1944-83: Corner Drug Store
1997: Book Press Limited (antiques)
2004: The Vault (club)
The Nomination Form also refers to the building as the "Margraves Building", with no detail provided. The lot on which the bank stands was acquired in January 1917 from E.S. Connor for $19,000.