Langtry was created in 1882 when the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad, later known as Southern Pacific, signed a deed with the Torres family, who owned the land. The town provided water for locomotives and developed from a tent town to a bustling settlement after the rail line was completed. It was most likely named for George Langtry, who led an area rail building crew, though lore links its naming to Roy Bean, the town's most famous inhabitant. Bean owned a local saloon, served as Justice of the Peace, became known as "The Law West of the Pecos," and was enamored of the British actress Lillie Langtry, who probably was not the town's namesake but did visit in the early 20th Century. J. P. Torres, part of the founding family, also served as Justice of the Peace and operated a store and saloon, while raising livestock like many residents, most often sheep or goats. Accessibility to the trains attracted ranchers who supported local businesses, and Langtry also supported industries including a rock crushing plant created for the railroad. The town attracted tuberculosis patients seeking to regain their health, and during the Mexican Revolution soldiers came there for goods, guns and munitions. After the rail line was rerouted in the 1920s, Langtry's population declined, and it now exists primarily as a tourist site whose landscape and remaining buildings still reflect its past as a bustling west Texas town.