DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Valley View, up there in Cooke County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way the best Texas stories do — with somebody looking out over the land and deciding, right then and there, that this is the place. The year is 1870, and Captain L.W.
Lee and his wife Mary Ann, born a Fryer, have made the long haul down from Missouri. They land on a tall grass prairie, the kind that rolls out before you like a green sea, overlooking a valley. You can almost picture the Captain standing there, hat in hand, Mary Ann beside him, the wind moving through all that grass.
They'd found their spot. And word, as it tends to do, got around. Several friends from Missouri soon made the same journey south, and by 1872 those settlers had gone from neighbors to founders.
They platted the streets, secured a post office, and gave the place a name that fit what they'd seen standing on that prairie — Valley View. A mill went up. A gin.
A school. The kind of things that tell you a community isn't just passing through. Then, in 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway rolled in, and Valley View started moving at a different speed altogether.
By 1890, the town was boasting a hotel, four churches, and a newspaper. Four churches and a newspaper — now that is a town that has opinions and isn't shy about sharing them. The schools incorporated in 1902, and by the very next year there was a brick schoolhouse standing proud, a bank open for business, and telephone service connecting Valley View to the wider world.
And out of all of this — the prairie grass, the platted streets, the railway, the brick schoolhouse — came a native son worth mentioning by name. J. Marvin Jones, born in 1882, went on to serve fifty-nine years as a United States congressman and federal judge.
Fifty-nine years. The town that started with a captain, his wife, and a view of a valley eventually incorporated as a city in 1979. Not bad for a stretch of tall grass prairie that two people from Missouri decided, one day in 1870, was exactly where they were supposed to be.
What the marker says
In 1870, Captain L.W. Lee and his wife Mary Ann (Fryer) came from Missouri to a tall grass prairie overlooking a valley. Several friends from Missouri soon arrived, and by 1872 the settlers founded the town of Valley View, platting streets and securing a post office. A mill, gin and school were all quickly established. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway arrived in 1886, and by 1890 the community also boasted a hotel, four churches and a newspaper. Valley View schools incorporated in 1902, and by the following year there was a brick schoolhouse, a bank and telephone service. Native son J. Marvin Jones (1882-1976) served 59 years as U.S. congressman and federal judge. The city of Valley View incorporated in 1979. (2007)