The largest Texas based bank, San Antonio based Frost Bank, is beginning a celebration of its 150th year in operation, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"It actually began as a mercantile operation, like a general store," Frost Bank's Bill Day said. "Then operator T.C. Frost began making loans to his customers."
Frost excelled at loaning money to the ranchers and settlers who will populating Texas and much of the West in the boom years immediately after the Civil War, and began to expand into other Texas locations.
Day says considering the boom and bust cycle of the Texas economy over the past century and a half, surviving for 150 years is quite an accomplishment.
"Through the Great Depression and wars and economic downturns and everything that has gone on in Texas, when you think about it," he said.
Think about this. In 1980, Frost Bank, which then was past of the holding comapny Cullen Frost Bankers, was the 10th largest Texas based bank. After the dust of the housing and energy crash of the late 1980s, Frost was number one.
Day points out that Frost was one of the first banks to refuse to accept bail out money during the 2008 financial crisis, and has more than doubled in size since then
.“This year, as our company turns 150, we are going to celebrate 150 years of doing what’s right, right here,” said Frost Chairman and CEO Phil Green. “Frost will honor the past and step into the future by helping to make our communities better places to live and by helping Texans feel more financially secure.”