Early Teague Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. You're rolling through Gregg County now, and if these old walls could talk, they'd have quite a story to spin. This is the Early Teague Home, and it is one of the few remaining houses of a place called Earpville, which is what they called early Longview before the name took hold.

Think about that for a second. Most of what was Earpville is long gone. This place is still standing.

That alone ought to get your attention. Now, the north boundary of this tract sat right on a stagecoach line, William T. Brooks' line running all the way from Monroe, Louisiana, out to Tyler, Texas.

Stages rolling through, dust rising, travelers coming and going. This house was already here before 1882, when a couple named Latimus and Mary Teague came along and purchased it. They were natives of Alabama, both of them, and they put down roots right here in what would become Longview.

But here's where the story gets a little warmer. Two daughters, Misses Molly and Sarah Teague, took it upon themselves to do something lasting. Beginning in 1890, they held school sessions right here in this house.

Taught music, too. Just picture it. Children filing in, lessons echoing off these same walls.

That went on here until the classes moved to a separate building, and even then, the teaching continued right on until 1905. Molly and Sarah Teague didn't wait for the world to build them a schoolhouse. They used what they had, and what they had was this.

A few remaining houses of old Earpville are all that's left to tell the tale, and this one tells it louder than most.

What the marker says

One of few remaining houses of Earpville (early Longview). North boundary of tract on Wm. t. Brooks' stagecoach line from Monroe, La. to Tyler, Texas. Built before 1882, when it was purchased by Latimus and Mary Teague, natives of Alabama. Two daughters, Misses Molly and Sarah Teague, held school sessions and taught music here beginning 1890. Classes moved to separate building where they continued until 1905. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966