Langtry, Texas

Langtry is an unincorporated community in Val Verde County, Texas, United States. The community is notable as the place where Judge Roy Bean, the "Law West of the Pecos", had his saloon and practiced law.^[1]

History

Langtry was originally established in 1882 by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a grading camp called Eagle Nest.^[2] It was later renamed for George Langtry, an engineer and foreman, who supervised the immigrant Chinese work crews building the railroad in the area.

Roy Bean arrived soon after completion of the railroad, and set up a tent saloon on company land. He later built a wooden structure for his saloon, which he called The Jersey Lilly after the well-known British actress Lillie Langtry.^[3] She was a native of the island of Jersey. (Née Le Breton, Langtry was her married name, and she was not related to George Langtry.) Bean used the saloon as his headquarters when authorized as a justice of the peace and notary public. He called himself the "Law West of the Pecos". After a notable career as justice of the peace, Bean died in 1903.

In 1884, the town was authorized a post office. In 1892, it had a general store, a railroad depot, and two saloons. Langtry began to decline after the highway was moved slightly north in the early 1900s for a more direct east-west route. Once bypassed, the town's businesses lost revenue and jobs. In the 1920s, Southern Pacific moved its facilities away, more jobs were lost, and the town population dwindled to 50.

By the 1970s, its population dipped as low as 40. Tourism to the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center continues to keep the town alive.

Transportation

Langtry is located along US 90.

There are no transportation services that directly serve Langtry. The nearest transportation option is served by Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, which passes through the town on Union Pacific tracks on the Sanderson Subdivision, but makes no stop. A stop is located 60 miles (96 km) northwest in Sanderson, or 60 miles (96 km) southeast in Del Rio.

Education

It was formerly in the Langtry Common School District, but sometime prior to 1976 the Langtry district merged into the Comstock Independent School District.^[4] In 1964 Langtry's student count exceeded 60.^[5]

The whole county is served by Southwest Texas Junior College according to the Texas Education Code.^[6]

Archeology

Found on Mile Canyon right near Langtry is Bonfire Shelter, an archeological site that has yielded bones from butchered animals, including bison, driven to their deaths over the cliff by Native Americans thousands of years ago.^[7]

Popular culture

The Westerner (1940) is a film featuring Walter Brennan as Judge Roy Bean and Gary Cooper as a fictional interloper. It repeated the myth of the town's being named for Lillie Langtry.
The Wild Bunch (1969) has a passing reference to Langtry as a place where Freddie Sykes (Edmond O'Brien) had been active as a desperado many years before the events depicted the film.
Lillie (1978), a TV miniseries about Lillie Langtry, was produced by Britain's London Weekend Television, also related the myth of the Texas town's name.
Judge Roy Bean (1955–1956), a Western television series set in Langtry, but filmed in Pioneertown, California, aired in syndication with Edgar Buchanan in the title role.^[8]
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), a film set in Langtry and starring Paul Newman, sparked new interest in Texas history.
Roy Bean appears as a main character in Le Juge, part of the Lucky Luke series.
The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border (2008) is a nonfiction book about a reported UFO crash at Langtry in 1955.
The town plays a major role in R.A. Lafferty's science-fiction novel Fourth Mansions.
Langtry is mentioned in the Cormac McCarthy novel No Country for Old Men. Langtry could be the hometown of the novel's protagonist Llewelyn Moss.
Langtry and the surrounding area have long been favorite hunting grounds for legions of amateur and professional herpetologists looking for a variety of reptiles endemic to the area.
The episode "A Picture of a Lady" in the Western series Death Valley Days depicts Judge Roy Bean renaming the Texas town of Vinegaroon as Langtry in honor of Lillie Langtry.
Langtry inspired the fictional town of Langtree in the video game Wandersong.^[9]

Climate

Langtry has a hot semiarid (BSh) climate.

Gallery

Langtry ca. 1880s.
Scenic Pecos River east of Langtry: Judge Roy Bean claimed to have been "The Law West of the Pecos".
Judge Bean historical marker in Langtry
Judge Roy Bean holding court at The Jersey Lilly
The Jersey Lilly saloon (September 2005)
Inside Judge Bean's saloon in Langtry
A restaurant named for Lillie Langtry in Langtry, Texas
The windmill at the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center
Sunset Route, Mile Creek Canyon (3 miles east of Langtry, Texas, postcard, circa 1908)
Sunset Route (postcard, circa 1908)

References

^ "Langtry". Texas Time Travel. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
^ "Langtry". Texas Time Travel. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
^ "Langtry". Texas Time Travel. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
^ Bryant, Don (November 24, 1976). "County School Superintendent's Job Diminishing". Del Rio News Herald. Del Rio, Texas. p. 4. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
^ "Four County Schools Are Holding Classes". Del Rio News Herald. Del Rio, Texas. September 8, 1964. p. 3A. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
^ Texas Education Code: Sec. 130.200. SOUTHWEST TEXAS JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
^ Turpin, Solveig A. (November 1, 1994). "Bonfire Shelter". tshaonline.org. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
^ Billy Hathorn, "Roy Bean, Temple Houston, Bill Longley, Ranald Mackenzie, Buffalo Bill, Jr., and the Texas Rangers: Depictions of West Texans in Series Television, 1955 to 1967", West Texas Historical Review, Vol. 89 (2013), pp. 109-110
^ "An interview with Wandersong creator Greg Lobanov". January 16, 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Langtry, Texas.

Langtry, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
"Lillie Langtry", JaynesJersey
The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean, IMDb - film
Roy Bean, IMDb - 1956 TV show