Robert L. Thornton
Overview
 
Robert Lee Thornton, Sr. (often just R. L. Thornton) (10 August 1880 – 15 February 1964) was a Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 (USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) businessman, philanthropist, and mayor of the city.

Thornton grew up with some schooling, but spent many of his early years working - first as a cotton picker, then as a store clerk and later as a traveling salesman. In 1916, Thornton founded Stiles, Thornton and Lund, a bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

ing company, called the Mercantile National Bank, serving as its president through 1947.
 
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