Green and Faris Buildings

The oldest operating business in San Marcos, the First National Bank, opened in this location in 1879. The bank's original home at 140-144 East San Antonio, and its neighbor, are two of the handsomest buildings on the courthouse square, and perhaps the oldest. Their unadorned design is typical of the period when the town was just beginning to develop as a commercial center.

Ed J.L. Green bought property on the south side of the square in 1878, and in the next year built the rock structure. His private enterprise, "Ed J.L. Green Banker," received a national charter six years later. On May 16, 1885, the First National Bank of San Marcos opened with 500 shares of capital stock at $100 a share, of which Green held 300.

Other businesses had occupied the building along with the bank. Green rented to lawyers, doctors, and real estate agents. Martin Weiss' Chicago Store, which seemed to sell everything from groceries to hats was in the easternmost section. The building next door, at 136-138 San Antonio (called the Faris Building after a 1926 lawsuit that called it by that name), also housed a multitude of businesses. One is said to have been a Chinese grocery store.

Not much has been found out about N.K. Faris, except that he owned a great deal of property in San Marcos, and that he was co-director of the Chautauqua.

In 1909, the First National Bank moved to the east side of the square. The Courthouse Annex now occupies that building, which has been cruelly altered. The Green and Faris Buildings continued to serve in various capacities. Shortly before rehabilitation, the San Marcos Department Store was in the Green area. The structures are combined here as one property primarily because they were originally in the same hands because the present owner owns both buildings and because they form a single visual unit.