dallashistory

This forum is languishing waiting for then and now photos of Dallas.
While we're waiting I'll dump a few of my Texas photos on it.

This is Judge Roy Bean's Jersey Lilly Saloon in Langtry, Texas. The saloon sits on the original site and when it was restored in 1939 lumber and boards from buildings and houses dating to Bean's era were used. Behind the saloon is the old opera house and the whole visitor center is surrounded by a well maintained desert scape.
Across the street from the visitors center is the remains of Langtry itself. Drive down the main street and you'll come to the Rio Grande and the site of the world-championship boxing match between Peter Mahar of Ireland and Bob Fitzsimmons of Australia in 1896.
Langtry is located in Val Verde County just south of US-90 and very easy to get to.
I took this photo the last time I was there in 2002. There was a store across the road that sold cold drinks and ice cream and other snacks. Kinda handy on a hot day.
East of Langtry is the Pecos River bridge and scenic overlook. It's located close to where the Pecos runs into the Rio Grande.
Here's info about both Langtry and the bridge
http://tiny.cc/f7qgD
http://tiny.cc/ZA1BV

Ten or fifteen miles west of Langtry is the ghost town of Pumpville.
It's worth a look-see too.
http://tiny.cc/Wro1o

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Here's one for you, Ronnie. It shows my great-great-granddad, R. M. Montgomery (b. 1859, San Saba County), visiting with old Judge Bean, probably in the late 1890s .... and standing to the right of the little one on the bicycle. My grandmother treasured an original of this photograph for many years; my uncle is its current conservator and I do need to get a copy. In the meantime, there is this grainy image, from a family history book.

Our Montgomerys were a wild and woolly bunch



I do remember visiting Langtry, and the visitor center associated with the saloon, during the early 1970s. That beautiful, desert garden is one of the firm imprints from my youth.

Actually, Ronnie, I have done a web-search since posting this photo and have found several other versions of it there. My grandmother's copy is an aged, cabinet photo; would dismiss entirely the identification of my 2x-great-granddad as a family tradition gone awry ..... except that my great-grandmother -- from whom the photo came -- was a devout member of the Church of Christ ~ vehemently committed to abstinence and to the avoidance of all occasions of sin. Such an approach to life found her upon her conversion to the church .... about the year of 1920.

Anyway, now I am cautious. Will try to learn if there is an inscription on the back of our family photo of the Judge -- and at least would like to know how it came to be in Memomma's big shoe-box of old images.

Holly

It shows my great-great-granddad, R. M. Montgomery (b. 1859, San Saba County), visiting with old Judge Bean, probably in the late 1890s ....

I'm familiar with the photo and I'm pretty sure it's displayed in the visitor center. I seem to remember that the two fellows to the judge's right are his brothers but I wouldn't swear.

I should have added that the old judge's final resting place is in Del Rio along with his brother Sam and a saloon replica.

Before the brewery closed Pearl Beer in Sam Antonio used a replica of the Jersey Lilly as their souvenir shop. And there's another replica in Pecos, also a souvenir shop, that many people think is the real thing and take photos. There may be more replicas but that's all the ones I've seen.

was a devout member of the Church of Christ ~ vehemently committed to abstinence

When I was in Langtry in 2002 there was a church group there and many of the folks wouldn't go inside the saloon because it was a saloon.
Got to admire them kind of principles.

Keep me informed if you turn up anything new.

Okay, Ronnie. My grandma had her copy of the photo enlarged, and kept it mounted on a cabinet in her office. While she was living, I didn't pursue the story concerning her grandfather any further beyond nodding when she told me that it was he.

I do have images of the father of Richard M. Montgomery, but none of he himself as a young man. Perhaps he did visit with Judge Roy Bean and the family just assumed that it was their kinsman in the photo.

Anyway, keep the 'Texas' pictures coming!