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- Banks
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- The First State Bank opened
for business on December 17, 1909. The first building was located
on the southeast corner of the Avenue D and Main Street intersection.
The building was a square, brick building measuring twenty-four
feet by twenty-four feet. The building was heated with one large
coal stove which was not adequate. Later an oil burning stove
was installed but it was not much better. For air conditioning
they opened all the windows and let the hot air blow through.
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- There were seven original
stockholders: Dr. M.C. Overton, who was the first bank president;
C.A. Burrus, who was the first cashier and owned a majority of
the shares of stock; S.R. Merrill, who was president from 1910
to 1493; N.C. Hix, who served as president from 1944 to 1952;
W.A. Shelton; W.H. Ragland, and Vint Stambaugh.
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- In May, 1925, the bank
moved into larger quarters across the street and down about the
middle of the block. This is the building where Struve Hardware
was later located. The vault is still there. This building was,
first heated with oil but in 1927, natural gas was available
and several stoves were installed.
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- Loans were mostly for
cattle. Customers borrowed one hundred to two hundred and fifty
dollars a year. A few of the larger loans might reach two thousand
dollars or more. The interest rate was ten percent. Mules, horses,
cows, and sheep were used as security.
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- The stock market crash
and the depression hit the Abernathy community hard. In March,
1933, when the Banking Holiday was declaired, many banks could
not re-open. The First State Bank, under the leadership of S.R.
Merrill, president, L.A. Harral, vice-president, N.C. Hix, acting
vice-president, survived the holiday, being the only bank in
the county to re-open.
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- L.A. Harral was elected
president of the hank after: the death of Mr. Merrill in 1933.
He served as president until 1944.
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- Today, two banks are located
in Abernathy; First State Bank and Security Bank.
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