Lamar State Bank & Trust Company Building - Paris, TX
N 33° 39.643 W 095° 33.375
15S E 262970 N 3727470
A c.1963 photo of the old Lamar State Bank & Trust Company building at 3 S Plaza St, Paris, TX, suggests that the building hasn't changed a whole lot from how it looks in 2020, but it has...
Waymark Code: WM11FAD
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/13/2019
Views: 0
Coordinates and photos are taken from in front of the old First State Bank building at the corner of S First and Clarksville Streets, kitty corner to the northeast. The original photographer was standing in this general area, too. Note that traffic light in the photo has been replaced, and while there are still lights at this busy intersection, they don't interfere with a nice photograph.
A bronze plaque on the corner of the building notes its 1917 construction and the Lamar State Bank & Trust Company as the tenant, although that's incorrect on a technicality. The plaque has "City of Paris" and "Historic District" framing the Culbertson Fountain, a symbol of Paris's resilience and strength after the 1916 fire consumed so much of the downtown area. Established as the Lamar Savings Bank in 1904 and operating out of the nearby City National Bank, they merged with the Guaranty State Bank & Trust in 1913 and adopted "Lamar State Bank & Trust" as their name. A contemporary, the First State Bank & Trust, was founded in 1906 and they operated on this corner, both before the fire and after, being taken over by the Lamar State Bank & Trust in 1926. So, the Lamar State Bank & Trust owned multiple banks that had operated here, but as an official entity, they were only here from 1926 to 1928, when they closed.
This building is part of the Paris Commercial Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, but as a non-contributing structure. The National Register's Nomination Form says little other than noting it as a non-contributor (as property #2) and capturing it (with the ghost of Texas Optical and a shoe store) in photo #51 (taken in 1984, included in the gallery). The façade was radically altered at some point and given a modern look, as seen in photo #51, but a c. 1963 photo in "Paris" in Arcadia's Images of America series (by Timothy G. Grammer with Jim Bell) shows the building looking pretty much as it does today. When the photo was taken, the Hollywood Shop and Parisian Women's Wear were both here, but both are now long gone.
One wonders whether the National Register would change this building's status back to "Contributing" if they were to revisit the district. As Paris leaves behind "progress" and continues to embrace their post-fire heritage on the square, this and other restored buildings far more resemble their 1916-1917 conditions than how they looked in the 1950s and beyond.
The DowntownTX website is a great resource in providing additional background, noting the Hollywood Shop and Texas Optical as longtime tenants here.