Built in 1865 by C. Chaffee, a New Orleans promoter and cotton-buyer, this building served from 1868 to 1883 as the law office of S.A. Willson, a member of the five-man commission to codify Texas law under the Constitution of 1876 and later a judge in the State Court of Appeals. Here, from 1884 to 1892, leading East Texas attorney and Tyler banker F.W. Bonner operated the first bank in Cherokee County, serving New Birmingham. The structure retained the Bonner Building name through school and other occupancies.