Continued from page 10
My Glorious Career Pt. 2
STORY BY MARSHA BROWN
PHOTOS BY TYLER MASK
Jim Duncan
SEPTEMBER 2015
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
The Art of Marketing a Landmark
The first bank in Parker County was established almost by
accident.
J.R. Couts drove a herd of cattle to California, after the
Civil War ended, and returned with $50,000 in gold, a
fortune at that time.
But, Couts had a problem. There were no banks
between Abilene and Dallas in those days and he needed
somewhere safe to keep his fortune.
So, Couts constructed a vault and ordered a safe.
Weatherford being Weatherford, word traveled fast.
Soon some people were coming to Couts to keep their
money safe in his vault while others wanted to borrow
money. Couts helped a good many of them.
Then, Couts woke up one morning and realized that
he had become an accidental banker.
In 1881, Couts applied for a national banking charter
under the name Citizen’s National Bank. In 1885, he had
a beautiful limestone bank constructed at the corner of
North Main Street and Courthouse Square. It was a suitable headquarters to the prosperous bank.
In the early days, a tunnel ran from the basement of
the bank building to the basement of the Parker County
Courthouse.
According to local lore, Couts caught wind of a plan
that famed outlaw Sam Bass planned to rob Citizen’s
National. Couts spent more than a couple of days sitting
in a chair on the porch in front of his financial institution,
with a rifle across his knees, just daring someone to try to
breach his security system.
Bass did show, according to legend, and Couts
confronted Bass and asked him if he was planning to rob
his bank.
Bass answered slowly, “No, Mr. Couts, I don’t reckon
I do.” Bass quietly rode away.
Clearly, Couts took his responsibility to his community
seriously.
So much in the banking industry has changed in the
last 130 years. Neighborhood banking centers and online
banking has made trips to big central banks less frequent.
Eventually, Citizen’s National Bank was acquired by
Weatherford National Bank, which merged with First
Financial Bank.
Last February, the First Financial Board of Directors
announced they intended to sell the landmark bank and
that operations and staff members would move to the
company’s new banking centers.
When Jim Duncan heard First Financial Bank planned
to sell its Historic Downtown Weatherford location, one
of the first thoughts to cross his mind was that he hoped
whomever bought the building would be someone with
respect for the landmark. Built in 1885, it is a monument
20
from the days when the town was a true cattle baron’s
community.
No sooner had Duncan’s thoughts taken root than First
Financial Bank President and Regional CEO Jay Gibbs
called. Seems the bank was interested in retaining Jim
Duncan as the agent to list their building. “I was humbled
that the folks at First Financial would entrust me with selling their historic building,” Duncan said. The listing price
was $1.75 million.
When the bank’s Board of Directors had decided to
shutter the bank’s downtown location in February, they
shared the same sentiments and concerns that Duncan
had about selling the building. It was paramount to them
that the buyer of the building would be someone who
would treat the building with the respect it deserved.
The buyer that stepped up to the plate with an offer
was Parker County, led by County Judge Mark Riley. The
county offered $1.4 million.
The 20,000-square-foot building would affordably
solve a number of the space issues for several of Parker
County’s departments, including the office of County
Attorney John Forrest Jr., who is currently operating out
of a cramped space that is too far from any of the County
Courts.
“I think that it’s a positive step for the county and for
downtown,” Riley said. “It preserves part of our history.
When it was first announced that the bank was going to
vacate that building, I think there were a lot of people
who contacted them and said they wished the county
would buy it to preserve it. The county’s intent would
be to move offices that have little public contact to the
historic building on 101 North Main Street, Riley said,
like those of the auditor, treasurer, benefits coordinator
and purchasing agent.