F. L. Whaley House
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Constructed in 1871 for hardware merchant Franklin L. Whaley and his wife Mary Caroline Rogers, this was one of the earliest homes built in Longview. Five generations of the Whaley family have lived here. Built in a central hall configuration with lumber cut on the site, the structure features gabled pavilions, three dormers above the front porch, fine milled wood details, and elaborate jigsawn balustrade and piers. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1871 for hardware merchant Franklin L. Whaley and his wife Mary Caroline Rogers, this was among the earliest homes in Longview, its lumber cut right on the site. The central-hall house shows off the era's craftsmanship — gabled pavilions, three dormers above the front porch, fine milled woodwork, and elaborate jigsawn railings. Five generations of the Whaley family have called it home.
Why it matters
One of Longview's first houses, built the year the railroad helped birth the town, it embodies the founding generation of a booming Reconstruction-era East Texas rail town.
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Related people
- · Franklin L. Whaley
- · Mary Caroline Rogers Whaley
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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O. H. Methvin (1815–1882) came to Texas from Georgia around 1848 and bought some 1,200 acres of East Texas, including a cornfield on this site. In 1870 he deeded 100 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the town that grew along the line was named Longview for the sweeping view surveyors admired from nearby Rock Hill. When Gregg County formed in 1873, Longview became its county seat, a city born from one landowner's gift to the railroad.
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