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Crossing
Pecos River on US90 near Langtry
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, June 2004 |
Judge
Roy Bean Visitor Center (915-291-3340)
is open daily, except major holidays. The sign says 8:00 to 5:00,
and they opened at 7:59 the day of our visit. Well done, Langtry Visitor's
Center!
The Jersey Lily Saloon / Courtroom adjoins the Visitor's
Center. "Plain and weathered" would describe the building. It's the
"before" photograph in a before-and-after deck stain commercial.
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"Sunset
Route, Mile Creek Canyon.
Crossed Three Miles East of Langtry, Texas"
1907 postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
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"Law
West of The Pecos, Langtry, Texas"
The Jersey Lilly on a linen postcard, circa 1940s
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
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The Jersey Lilly Saloon and Judge
Roy Bean's courtroom - built on the railroad right of way.
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html |
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Playhouse
on the Pecos
Like Bean, the
saloon wasn't pretty, but it was colorful. Besides his duties as
Law-West-of-the-Pecos, Roy
Bean was also a director - using a cast of characters recruited
from Langtry's human resources. One day you might be in the audience;
another day you might be in the cast. One day a defendant - next
day a jurist. But one thing never changed - Roy
Bean was in charge. If it wasn't for his wry sense of humor,
he might've made a good dictator.
Of course the
humor depended on if it was you or someone else on trial. The law
depended on which side of the Pecos and the Westside was Roy Bean
Territory.
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The
Roy half of the Brothers Frijoles
(Roy with beard next to cyclist)
Old postcard |
The Naming
of Langtry
The town dates
to 1881 when a silver spike was driven by the railroad commemorating
the completion of the line. Among the people fighting for the spike
after the ceremony was the Honorable Judge
Roy Bean.
Most of the
town's inhabitants moved from the village of Vinegarroon
that was located at the juncture of the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers.
The name comes from a local arachnid more commonly known as a "whip-tail
scorpion" that emits a vinegary smell when you squash it while putting
on your boots. A 19th century print of a vinegarroon is in the visitor's
center - and even as an arachnid - it's uglier than most.
Langtry was probably named after a civil engineer working for the
railroad, but the story that people would rather believe is that
Roy
Bean had a schoolboy crush on Miss Lillie Langtry
and named it in her honor.
Speaking of
honor, Bean's title of "Judge" was a little inflated.
He was a Justice of the Peace and even that is debated. He may just
have just been an extroverted notary public. In addition to his
duties as "judge" he was also coroner for the railroad.
Most of the
land in town belonged to a Mr. Torres who operated a store and restaurant
- Bean
sort of squatted on the railroad right-of-way. Torres was a patient
and pacific man and gave Bean
a wide berth - perhaps in deference to Bean's
authority.
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Sunrise
at Langtry
TE photo, 2000 |
Langtry
Today
The Visitor's
Center at Langtry has many displays of Beanabilia, including
his pistol/gavel (with appropriately cracked butt) which came to be
owned by Ms. Langtry herself. The "Jersey Lily" couldn't
think of a way to include it in her act and so she donated it to the
town. She was well aware she was supposedly the town's namesake -
for Roy
had been sending her fan letters for years. She couldn't find
room in her schedule to visit the town, and when her train finally
did pull into Langtry - Bean
was dead.
The town today
offers some interesting photo opportunities, particularly early
morning. East of the visitor's center is the Langtry Baptist
Church, still in use two Sundays a month. The land immediately
south of 90 at the eastern entrance to town was formerly a tourist
camp and the variety of cacti specimens scattered on the rocky slopes
of the canyon is amazing. Also visible are the limestone bridge
supports for the old railroad route. Watch out for vinegarroons.
Del
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The
old Torres Grocery Store which has since collapsed
TE photo, 2000 |
©
John Troesser
Langtry
Texas Forum
Subject:
Thank You
I just Google'd Langtry, Tx and had the pleasure to find your website.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your work. We are winter Texans
and enjoy the great state of Texas and your website has just made
it a lot easier to decide where to make our stops. We are currently
staying at Del Rio
and exploring Lake Amistad, I love old westerns and was excited
to see how close we were to Langtry. We are making a day trip to
the town today and your website has helped me, I know where to go
and what to see. Again Thank you for your great work. - Joe and
Donna Carpentier, January 15, 2008
Subject:
Langtry, Texas
Dear TE, I stumbled upon your magazine and found it interesting.
My family has roots in Langtry, Texas and my grandparents worked
on the Hamilton Ranch in Pumpville,
Texas in the 1920's. My grandparents owned and operated a Texaco
gas station on Hwy. 90 W with six motel rooms in the 1930's-1940's.
The family moved to Del
Rio, Texas in approximately 1947 but granddad still ran the
gas station while grandma and kids attended school and ran another
business in Del Rio.
The Langtry schoolhouse is now closed and the children now attend
classes in Comstock,
which is about 28 miles east of Langtry. The Schoolhouse is now
named "Vashti Skiles Community Center" after my great-aunt, who
taught school there for many years. The Community Center is used
for many things now, such as The Water Board meetings, monthly town
meetings, Bible Study, birthday parties, funeral services and an
annual "Old Settlers' Reunion" held in each April. The average attendance
for this reunion is about 130 people who travel from all over to
attend the weekend festivities and visit with family and old friends.
I believe there are [currently] only 14-15 residents of Langtry
but there are a lot of visitors daily and people in the surrounding
area drive to Langtry for their mail, to visit friends and attend
a church service every other weekend at the Baptist Church. The
last I heard, a visiting pastor or lay leader came to perform the
service from Comstock. I have attended several services there with
my family over the last several years. If anyone has any history,
information, etc. on this area to share, I would be happy to hear
from you. - Daina Skiles Schwartz, San Angelo, Texas, dainaschwartz@wcc.net,
June 27, 2007
I'm one of
Pumpville's
former residents. In 1963, I was 9 years old and was in 3rd grade.
My family got stuck in Pumpville and the three kids were bussed
to a two-room schoolhouse in Langtry. ...
... When
visiting Pumpville in 2000, the general store looked like a tornado
had hit it. I explored a bit and saw evidence of where the phone
company and post office had been. The trailer was gone, but lo...the
church had been totally remodeled, a surprise since there seemed
to be nobody in the area to attend it. I'm guessing people living
in nearby Langtry, a small town with a LOT of history, notably the
"Jersey Lilly" saloon and more in the fantastic tourist information
center, would likely be attendees. In 2002, it was in similar condition.
Incidentally, the old two-room schoolhouse in Langtry was
still standing in 2002, but was closed down. I'm sure nothing has
changed. I even saw the old merry-go-round in the former playground.
Amazing. - Gil Davis, May 31, 2004
"You must
talk about the extensive desert garden exhibit at the Langtry
Visitor's Center - it's a shame you left this part out - its
the best part! and the inside interactive exhibit is superb!"
- Debra l. Beene, Archaeologist, Texas Historical Commission, October
13, 2000
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