Whaley House
101 E. Whaley St., Longview, TXThe Whaley House, built by Franklin Lucilius Whaley for his family in 1871, was the fourth house built in the newly platted town of Longview according to local legend. Originally only four rooms, the house began expanding almost immediately and in the 1870s was considered to be the showplace of the town due to its Victorian ornamentation and its size (which was large for Longview in the 1870s). Whaley, an early Longview entrepreneur and hardware merchant, was a founder of the First Baptist Church in Longview and maintained one bedroom of his home as a "preacher's room for circuit-riding preachers visiting Longview. Whaley was elected Mayor of Longview in 1891. Gregg County's first court was held in the second story of his hardware store, where it continued to convene until the courthouse was built in 1876.
Descendants of F. L. Whaley continued to occupy the house until June of 1979 when it was purchased by Sharp, Ward & Ross for use as a law office.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.