By Stephen R. Farris
Special to the NavCo Chronicle
The Navarro County Genealogical Society met this past Saturday for their quarterly meeting, at the Emmanuel Baptist Church building on West Seventh Avenue, as guest speaker Chris Edmiston presented a program about possible changes that could be taking place with the old State National Bank building in downtown Corsicana in the near future.
The SNB building is an icon of historic downtown Corsicana, with its terra cotta faced exterior on two sides, standing eight stories tall. Known in the beginning at the Cerf Building, construction began in the early part of 1925, and the formal opening was held on April 21, 1926. H.O. Blanding of Corsicana and C.D. Hill and Company of Dallas were the architects of this magnificent piece of architecture, and for many years, SNB (Corsicana’s first skyscraper) was recognized as the tallest building between Dallas and Houston.
The structure was recently home to Corsicana’s Chase Bank branch until a new facility was constructed for them on the city’s west side.
Edmiston, an investor, has taken on a few historic building projects in the past and present, and hopes to restore the old bank building in the upcoming years. During his presentation, Edmiston presented the society with a couple of large canvas photos of how he envisions the property will look after the restoration.
So far, there are plans for a food truck park, possibly a boutique style hotel, apartments, a restaurant and other ideas that will help attract and enhance more tourism to the downtown area. Asked what the timeline would be for the project, Edmiston stated that at the moment, there is not one as plans are still on the drawing board, but will be finalized hopefully in the near future.
This spells great news for the downtown historic district and could possibly encourage other projects to take place on a few other historic buildings, namely the old Dyers building and the First National Bank building on the corner of West Collin Street and North Main Street across from the Corsicana Public Library.
Needless to say, the proposed project is bringing much excitement to downtown Corsicana.
Recently, in NCGS news, the 2025 officers were named that include Dan Layne (President), Wayne Rogers (Vice-President), Camille McClanahan (Secretary), Chris Steele (Treasurer), Joanie Teel (Historian), and Dana Stubbs (Membership).