Heritage, Volume 15, Number 2, Spring 1997 Page: 12
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Colonel Frost was a successful mercantile trader and involved in the wool commission business before those endeavors led him to a banking career. His enterprise
was called "one of the first of its kind in San Antonio and by far the most successful.".economic climate for financial institutions.
In the 1950s and 1960s, American industry
began to expand, and along with it, banking
prospered. Banks began to offer consumer
loans that were repaid in installments,
replacing the old "call loan" method.
By 1968, Frost Bank bore little resemblance
to the original enterprise, but the
fundamental commitment of anticipating
and serving the needs of the community
and region remained integral to the bank's
philosophy.
T.C. Frost, currently senior chairman,
became chairman of the board in 1971 and
spearheaded the effort to build a new headquarters
for his large organization. The
400,000 square-foot Frost Bank Tower, built
close to the original Frost Bank site, became
a new landmark in downtown San
Antonio.
During the 1970s, Frost Bank began a
period of steady expansion. Assets climbed
12 percent in 1972 to reach $667 million,
while loans increased to $312 million-a
31 percent leap that boosted operating
profits by more than 50 percent. In 1973,
the Frost Bank Corporation, a Federal Reserve-registered
multi-bank holding company,
was formed and opened three addiDuring the Depression
in September 1931, one
of the largest San Antonio
banks closed its doors
and...depositors swarmed
the remaining banks to
withdraw their money.
Frost Bank withstood
this onslaught and
proudly records that...it
never closed its doors...
tional banks that year. In 1974, Frost entered
the Corpus Christi market by acquiring
Parkdale State Bank.
Another example of Frost leadership's
progressive vision was the merger in 1977
of Cullen Bankers, Inc. of Houston with
Frost Bank Corporation, creating Cullen/
Frost Bankers Inc., the top banking event
of the year in Texas. The merger gaveCullen/Frost Bankers a presence in the
Houston and Dallas markets, in addition to
San Antonio and Corpus Christi, making
the realigned holding company a bank entity
of significance in Texas.
As far back as the early 1920s, Frost
issued stock to non-family members for the
first time to fund its new 12-story bank
building. During the years, shares of the
bank's stock were traded in the over-thecounter
market through brokers. But it was
only in 1977, when the Cullen Bank and
Frost Bank merger took place, that the new
corporation, Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.,
was quoted for the first time on NASDAQ's
system as CFBI and began to be traded
actively. The stock currently reaches an
average volume of 60,000 shares a day.
Other mergers propelled Frost forward
in the 1980s. In 1982, Cullen/Frost entered
the Galveston market by acquiring United
States National Bancshares and expanded
in the Houston area with the acquisition of
Sugarland State Bank. Entry into the Austin
market was initiated in 1982 with a
merger agreement with Chase National
Bank. Amid growth and expansion of the
early 1980s, it was hard to imagine the
difficult times ahead.12 HERITAGE *SPRING 1997
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 15, Number 2, Spring 1997, periodical, Spring 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45402/m1/12/: accessed April 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.