Martin Hays
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1883-1958) Respected Longview citizen. Married Clara Harris, daughter of Gregg County pioneer family. Active in civic affairs, first elected to public office, 1910, as city marshall and district clerk. County sheriff 1924-1932. Seldom carried a gun-- enforced law in a soft-spoken manner. Was among first Texas sheriffs to organize junior deputies. Member, First Baptist Church, a Royal Arch Mason; and Woodman of the World.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Martin Hays (1883–1958) built a long career in East Texas public life, beginning in 1910 as Longview's city marshal and district clerk before serving as Gregg County sheriff from 1924 to 1932. Married into a pioneer Gregg County family, he was known for enforcing the law in a soft-spoken manner and rarely carrying a gun. He was among the first Texas sheriffs to organize junior deputies, and remained active in his church and fraternal orders.
Why it matters
His life reflects the quieter, community-rooted style of law enforcement that shaped small-town Texas in the early twentieth century.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Martin Hays was born in 1883, when East Texas was still largely a world of cotton farms, timber, railroads and small county seats. Longview had grown as a railroad town in Gregg County, and local life revolved around churches, fraternal lodges and courthouse politics.
His years in office spanned dramatic change. During the 1920s, Prohibition made law enforcement harder everywhere, because bootlegging and illegal liquor became a constant concern for county sheriffs. Then, near the end of his time as sheriff, the discovery of the great East Texas oil field in 1930 transformed the region almost overnight.
The boom brought a flood of workers, speculators and trouble to towns that had been quiet farm communities. Keeping the peace in Gregg County in those years was no small job, and how a sheriff chose to keep it said a great deal about him.
People & events
Hays began his public career in 1910, when he was elected city marshal and district clerk. He married Clara Harris, a member of one of Gregg County's pioneer families, which tied him closely to the community he served. He was county sheriff from 1924 to 1932.
What people remembered about him wasn't toughness. The marker records that he seldom carried a gun and enforced the law in a soft-spoken way. In an era whose popular image of the Texas lawman leaned toward the quick draw, Hays apparently relied on the respect of his neighbors and the strength of his own character.
He was also among the first Texas sheriffs to organize junior deputies, an effort that brought young people into a positive relationship with law enforcement. Outside his office, he was a member of the First Baptist Church, a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Woodmen of the World. Those memberships show a man woven into the civic and social fabric of his town.
Its place in the American story
Hays's life reflects a part of American law enforcement that is easy to overlook. Most small-town sheriffs were not gunfighters. They were local men whose authority came from community trust, family ties and long familiarity with the people they policed.
His junior deputy program fits a broader early twentieth-century movement to steer young people toward good citizenship, the same impulse behind youth clubs and scouting. Linking that idea to a sheriff's office was forward-looking for its time.
The fraternal organizations he joined, from the Masons to the Woodmen of the World, were pillars of American small-town life in his era. They offered friendship, mutual aid and civic leadership. Hays's story shows how these institutions, together with church and public office, held communities together through Prohibition and the oil boom.
If you visit
Take a moment at the marker to think about a sheriff whose reputation rested on a quiet voice instead of a holster. It is a refreshing contrast to the gunslinger legends of Texas, and a good conversation starter with children about what makes someone a respected leader.
Longview is a good place to explore East Texas history, including the oil-boom era that reshaped Gregg County during Hays's last years as sheriff. Look around the older parts of town for the churches and civic buildings that anchored the community life he was part of.
On a road trip across East Texas, Longview combines easily with nearby piney woods, small county seats and oil-field history sites, which together tell the story of how the region changed in the early twentieth century.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Martin Hays
- · Clara Harris
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
F. L. Whaley House
Longview, TX
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.
O. H. Methvin, Sr., Founder of Longview
Longview, TX
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.
Dalton Gang's Last Raid
Longview, TX
On May 23, 1894, outlaw Bill Dalton led his gang into Longview and presented a note demanding money at the First National Bank, triggering a furious gunfight as Sheriff Jack Howard, City Marshal Mat Muckleroy, and armed citizens fought back. Three local men and one outlaw were killed, and the gang fled into Oklahoma with two bank officers briefly held hostage. Forged $20 notes later led lawmen to the surviving raiders.
First Baptist Church of Longview
Longview, TX
This congregation has met continuously since 1871, when fifteen people led by the Rev. D. S. Snodgrass formed a church. In 1874 the Texas and Pacific Railway deeded it two town lots, where it raised its first frame sanctuary and called its first full-time pastor. As Longview grew, larger brick sanctuaries followed, and the church helped establish several other congregations in the community.