Prominent area businessman Dan Waggoner began this financial institution in 1904 as a branch of his privately-owned bank in Decatur (15 mi. NW). His son, W.T., served for a time as its president. Rhome's first bank was given a national charter in 1914 and grew steadily through the years. Its sound financial policies enabled it to survive the period of the Great Depression. Headquartered downtown for more than seventy years, the First National Bank in Rhome has been located at this site since 1975. (1984)