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Langtry, Texas

Langtry, Texas
Unincorporated community
Main Street in Langtry
Main Street in Langtry
Langtry, Texas is located in Texas
Langtry, Texas
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.

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.


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