Langtry, Texas

Langtry, Texas
Unincorporated community
Main Street in Langtry
Langtry, Texas Location within Texas
Coordinates: 29°48′31″N 101°33′31″W / 29.80861°N 101.55861°W / 29.80861; -101.55861Coordinates: 29°48′31″N 101°33′31″W / 29.80861°N 101.55861°W / 29.80861; -101.55861
Country	United States
State	Texas
County	Val Verde
Elevation	1,289 ft (393 m)
Population (2016)
• Total	12
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	78871
Area code	915
GNIS feature ID	1377171, 2034106

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.

History

Langtry was originally established in 1882 by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a grading camp called "Eagle Nest." 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 stage actress Lillie Langtry. She was a native of the island of Jersey. (Born with the surname Le Breton, 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. When in the 1920s Southern Pacific moved its facilities away, more jobs were lost and the town population dwindled to 50.

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

In 1955, Robert Burton Willingham claimed an unidentified flying object (UFO) crashed along the south bank of the Rio Grande, just a few hundred feet into Mexico.^[1] The incident came to be known as the Del Rio, Texas UFO Crash. Willingham, a former Air Force Reserve pilot, stated that he was flying a North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter when he observed a UFO streak past him and crash near Langtry.^[2] No local residents have been located who could confirm Willingham's story.

Popular culture

• The Westerner (1940), 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.
• Lillie (1978), a TV mini-series about Lillie Langtry produced by Britain's London Weekend Television (LWT), also related the myth of the Texas town's name.
• Judge Roy Bean (1955–56) a western television series set in Langtry but filmed in Pioneertown, California, aired in syndication with Edgar Buchanan in the title role. The supporting cast included Jack Buetel, Jackie Loughery, and Russell Hayden.^[3]
• The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), a film set in Langtry and starring Paul Newman, sparked new interest in Texas history.
• The Other Roswell: UFO Crash on the Texas-Mexico Border (2008), non-fiction book about a reported UFO crash at Langtry, Texas 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. It is implied that 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.

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Langtry, Texas.

• 
  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 actress Lillie Langtry in Langtry, Texas
• 
  The western windmill at the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center
• 
  Sunset Route, Mile Creek Canyon (3 miles East of Langtry, Texas, postcard, circa 1908)
• 
  Sunset Route, Mile Canyon, near Langtry, Texas (postcard, circa 1908)

References

External links

• 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

Municipalities and communities of Val Verde County, Texas, United States
County seat: Del Rio
City	Del Rio
CDPs	Amistad Box Canyon Cienegas Terrace Lake View Laughlin Air Force Base Val Verde Park
Unincorporated communities	Bakers Crossing Comstock Juno Langtry Pandale