First National
Bank Building, 1892 at the corner of San Antonio and South El Paso.
Photo by Parker.
Image provided by
the
El Paso County Historical Society
Collections
First National Bank Building
El Paso, Texas
Research Packet and Narrative by:
Adriana Davidson
Dr. George D. Torok
Honors Project
Spring 2002
National Endowment for the Humanities Historical Markers Project
Marker Text: First National Bank
The First National Bank Building was constructed in
1882-83 as part of the real estate boom that took place after the
arrival of the railroad. Joshua and Jefferson Reynolds, active in New
Mexico banking, financed its construction and were the bank’s first
presidents. It was originally a two-storey structure in the Italianate
style but in the mid-1880s a pitched roof, which served as the walls
of a third floor, was added. This transformed it into the Second
Empire style. The interior had elaborate woodwork and glass partitions
that separated the many offices and professional spaces. By 1900, a
main entrance was installed near the center of the East San Antonio
side of the building.
Over the years the First National Bank Building has
housed many businesses and services, including the Wells-Fargo and
Company’s Express, the Texas & Pacific Railroad, and the El Paso
Herald newspaper. The building’s most famous tenant was gunfighter
John Wesley Hardin who had his law office here on the second floor, on
the El Paso Street side, in the 1890s. When the First National Bank
merged with the American National Bank in 1914, it vacated the
building. As one of El Paso’s most prosperous banks it thrived for
more than fifty years but closed its doors in 1933 during the Great
Depression. Since that time the building has undergone several
renovations and continues to serve as retail and professional office
space.
