To serve the growing population (2,034 residents by 1900), a volunteer fire department was organized in 1855. Like many other volunteer fire departments of that era, it was a hobby and social club for young civic leaders. The department was based . . . — — Map (db m89193) HM
Longview News-Journal Publisher Carl Estes successfully led a civic effort to bring R.G. LeTourneau's excavator manufacturing company here. An ardent lay evangelist, LeTourneau also established a technical institute on the site of the former Harmon . . . — — Map (db m89267) HM
In January 1873, Upshur County Representative B.W. Brown (a Methodist lay preacher) introduced a bill in the Texas Legislature to make Longview the seat of a new county to be composed of portions of existing Upshur, Rusk and Harrison counties. The . . . — — Map (db m89156) HM
Like the oil boom 60 years later, the railroad boom of the 1870s was a rowdy, colorful period that resulted in lasting improvements. Longview consisted of about 60 hastily built frame buildings near Center and Tyler Streets. Almost half of the . . . — — Map (db m89186) HM
Along with the abundance of natural resources, the growth of commercial agriculture and the distribution capability of the railroad, the establishment of banking supplied the final ingredient needed to solidify the development of Longview's . . . — — Map (db m89067) HM
Before the United States entry into World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, ninety-five percent of the crude oil delivered to East Coast refineries was transported by tanker ships. Ninety percent of that oil originated . . . — — Map (db m89033) HM
The decade of the 1970s saw complete integration of the Longview Independent School District. For the first time, African-Americans were elected to the Gregg County Commissioners Court, City Council and School Board. In May 1970, Longview celebrated . . . — — Map (db m89277) HM
May 23, 1894–A bloody day in early Longview. Bill Dalton, leader of armed gang presented a note for money at First National Bank. A gunfight erupted when Sheriff Jack Howard, City Marshall Mat Muckleroy and citizens resisted. Three local men-- . . . — — Map (db m89022) HM
In response to the East Texas oil boom, Delta Drilling Company was founded in 1931 by Bob Stacy, Sam Dorfman, and Joseph Zeppa. Originally housed in an apartment at this site, the firm moved to Tyler in 1937. Delta drilled many of the oil wells . . . — — Map (db m89020) HM
Built in 1910 to house the Citizens National Bank, this structure is the only example of classical revival commercial architecture in Longview. Designed by noted architect and educator Samuel J. Blocker, the Everett Building was constructed by . . . — — Map (db m89023) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m218647) HM
This congregation has been in continuous existence since 1871, when fifteen people led by the Rev. D. S. Snodgrass gathered together to form a new church. In 1874 the Texas and Pacific Railway Company deeded two town lots to the Baptist church at . . . — — Map (db m218618) HM
The original site of Longview lay on the western outskirts of Earpville, a pioneer Upshur County community along the old Marshall-Tyle Road (today known as U.S. Highway 80). Founded around 1850 by James Earp, (pronounced "Arpville") consisted of . . . — — Map (db m89150) HM
Black gold! Suddenly, the Great Depression was forgotten with the late 1930 discovery of the East Texas Oil Field, biggest in the world. Trapped in a layer of porous sandstone called the Woodbine formation 3,600 feet below the surface, the field was . . . — — Map (db m89263) HM
This congregation traces its history to 1845, when a one-room log meeting house was erected nearby for a church, school and town hall. The church was served by circuit-riding ministers until 1850. The congregation moved to Earpville on the . . . — — Map (db m218641) HM
This church was established by nine resident members of the Old School Southern Presbyterian Church as a mission in the new town of Longview in 1872. The first church building was erected on land donated by the Texas and Pacific Railroad in 1874. . . . — — Map (db m138925) HM
The early settlers farmed only to meet their family needs. Any produce left over was used to pay the doctor, the blacksmith or barter for the necessities of life.
Corn was indispensable, meeting a multitude of needs for both family and . . . — — Map (db m89066) HM
General John Gregg
Born Alabama. Came to Texas 1854. Judge, Confederate congressman. Organized 7th Texas Infantry as colonel 1861. Captured at Fort Donelson, Tenn. 1862. Promoted brigadier general after exchange. Commanded brigade . . . — — Map (db m218583) HM
M.H. Graybill acquired land here in 1888. He set aside a tract to be used as a burial ground for local African American sharecroppers and their families. In 1910, Graybill (the cemetery spelling changed over time) sold this tract of land to the . . . — — Map (db m179800) HM
Formed from Rusk and Upshur counties. Created April 12, 1873; organized June 28, 1873. Named in honor of General John Gregg (1828-1864). Delegate to Secession Convention and to the Provisional Congress of the Southern Confederacy; a Confederate . . . — — Map (db m218642) HM
Established here by the United States Army in 1942, Harmon General Hospital was named for Colonel Daniel W. Harmon (1880-1940), a medical officer in the regular army. 220 buildings were rapidly constructed on the 156-acre site, and the hospital was . . . — — Map (db m187819) HM
The area's industrial development was greatly enhanced in 1950 when the Texas Eastman petrochemical plant located near Longview. What originally was intended as a small butyraldehyde plant became the city's biggest employer and the second largest . . . — — Map (db m89272) HM
This east Texas landmark established by John "Johnny" Cace, Jr. has served the area since 1949. Johnny was the son of a Yugoslav immigrant who grew up on the island village of Prvic Luka and spent his childhood fishing and boating in the Adriatic . . . — — Map (db m89031) HM
When George Addison Kelly came to East Texas in 1852 at the age of twenty, he saw possibilities in the manufacture and sale of cowbells to supply wagoners and traders. Resolving to make the bells resonance better, he made a journey to . . . — — Map (db m89064) HM
At one time, nearly all the cotton crops in the state of Texas were grown in east Texas. As with most of the south, cotton played a major role in the Longview economy.
The emergence of "King Cotton" as a marketable cash crop, coupled . . . — — Map (db m89013) HM
Named for "long view" from Rock Hill when surveyors laid off townsite in 1870. Incorporated June 24, 1871. Became county seat of Gregg County; also railroad, agricultural and lumber center. Its history includes an 1894 bank robbery-- the last raid . . . — — Map (db m218644) HM
By 1872, Longview received nationwide attention by serving as temporary head of the nation's Southern rail line. Business, population and construction were stimulated by wagon traffic from a large area since Longview provided the closest rail . . . — — Map (db m89154) HM
The Kelly Plow Works was reportedly the only non-sawmill industry in the county other than an ice factory. The Kelly plant, supposedly the first chartered industry in Texas, had relocated to Longview from Marion County in 1882. Kelly became well . . . — — Map (db m89246) HM
The last decade of Longview's first hundred years was a time of historic and fundamental change. In 1962, the "slant hole" scandal brought unfavorable national attention to the East Texas Oil Field. (This illegal process actually pioneered . . . — — Map (db m89276) HM
This community originated in the 1870s with the junction of the Texas & Pacific and International & Great Northern Railroad tracks. Churches, residences, hotels, restaurants, businesses, boardinghouses, and schools developed in the area to . . . — — Map (db m138911) HM
The city of Longview was incorporated in 1871, and there is evidence of a volunteer fire department as early as 1887. A new city hall complex with fire station was constructed in 1905, but the 1930s East Texas oil boom and subsequent population . . . — — Map (db m89006) HM
With railroad expansion headed west, O.H. Methvin deeded 150 acres to Southern Pacific Railroad in 1870. In 1871, Longview became the westward terminus of the railroad. Construction of a railroad line between Longview and Palestine began in 1872 by . . . — — Map (db m138915) HM
About 1848, O. H. Methvin (1815-1882) and his father Richard came to Texas from Georgia. O. H. Methvin bought about 1,200 acres in East Texas, including this site, which was his cornfield. He built a home on nearby Rock Hill for . . . — — Map (db m88853) HM
The community of Fredonia was founded by Haden Edwards, a land grantee who contracted in 1825 with the Mexican government to establish 800 families of settlers in East Texas. A later misunderstanding with Mexico caused him to organize the famous . . . — — Map (db m89035) HM
Following the Civil War, emancipated slaves established the Freedmen's Community of Pleasant Green. On December 20, 1871, pastors Henry Moses and Charles Anderson led local residents in organizing a Baptist congregation. The Rev. Henry Mass served . . . — — Map (db m179806) HM
What eventually became the Santa Fe line running south from Longview Junction was begun in 1877 by the locally capitalized Longview and Sabine Valley Railroad Company. As railroads opened virgin forests to harvest, 20 steam-powered sawmills were . . . — — Map (db m89188) HM
A native of Richford, Vermont, Robert G. LeTourneau built his first industrial plant in Stockton, California, in 1921. A self-educated man, he invented and pioneered the use of components now standard in many types of construction equipment. The . . . — — Map (db m187818) HM
Colonial mansion built in 1854, 50 yards north. Overnight stop on W.T. Brooks' stageline from Monroe, La., to Tyler via Pine Tree and Earpville postoffices, both now in Longview.
Slaves hewed lumber and made chimney bricks on site. First floor . . . — — Map (db m218645) HM
This site was once within the boundary of the community of Earpville, settled in the late 1840s by James Earp (d. 1861) and many of his relatives from Alabama. Located on a stagecoach line, the settlement at its height boasted a post office, stage . . . — — Map (db m218617) HM
Texas' first native governor (1891-1895), James Stephen Hogg, founded here in 1871 his first newspaper, the Longview "News". He was then 20 years old.
In his paper Hogg was a strong supporter of educational and governmental improvements for . . . — — Map (db m138920) HM
Longview was led into the 20th Century by Mayor Gabriel Augustus Bodenheim (1873-1957), known affectionately as "Bodie." Serving as mayor 1904-1916 and 1918-1920, Bodenheim oversaw Longview's first municipal water works, sanitary sewer system . . . — — Map (db m89241) HM
Gregg County was formed in 1873, and Longview was chosen as county seat. The first temporary courthouse was a small building at the corner of Fredonia and Tyler streets. It soon proved inadequate, however, and another temporary courthouse was set . . . — — Map (db m89019) HM
By 1920, Longview boasted 9 1/2 miles of paved streets, concrete sidewalks, electric street lights, municipal garbage collection and a paid fire department with the state's first two pumping trucks. In 1920, the Longview Rotary Club was organized as . . . — — Map (db m89262) HM
The end of World War II ushered in a long period of national prosperity, and Longview thrived thanks to the East Texas Oil Field and associated natural gas. Construction in Longview during the 1950s rivaled or exceeded that of the 1930s. Major . . . — — Map (db m89275) HM
Greater Longview developed around two focal points, each based on a separate depot on the Texas & Pacific track. The downtown depot was on the west side of Fredonia Street while the Junction depot was near the site of the original International . . . — — Map (db m89192) HM
Thanks to discovery of the East Texas Oil Field, Longview's population nearly tripled during the next decade, to 13,758 by 1940. While the rest of the nation suffered during the Great Depression. Longview's citizens, businesses and industry, schools . . . — — Map (db m89264) HM
Sale of lots began in September 1870, with the Southern Pacific buying another 50 acres from O.H. Methvin to extend its town site further west. To attract investors and to speed development, streets were given a metropolitan width of 100 feet. The . . . — — Map (db m89153) HM
On April 7, 1870, O.H. Methvin deeded one hundred acres of farmland to the Southern Pacific Railroad. The uptown depot was constructed immediately north of the rail track on Fredonia Street.
In 1872, the Texas & Pacific took over the . . . — — Map (db m89171) HM
The abundance of natural resources, coupled with the distribution capabilities of the railroad, beginning in 1870, gave rise to the area's first industry – timber, By 1877, there were 20 steam – powered sawmills in Gregg County, . . . — — Map (db m89015) HM
Although J. Garland Pegues had established the City Garage (later Pegues-Hurst Ford), all roads leading in and out of Longview remained dirt wagon tracks. Railroads continued to be the city's lifeline. In 1910, there were 18 daily passenger trains. . . . — — Map (db m89260) HM
In 1883, seven prominent Longview residents chartered the Longview & Junction Railway Company. For nearly thirty years, it operated a mule-drawn trolley that ran between the Junction Depot located at the intersection of Methvin and Sixth . . . — — Map (db m89168) HM
During World War II, served as gathering point for the "Big Inch" pipeline. Two feet in diameter — the largest pipe yet constructed—the "Big Inch" line carried crude oil to Pennsylvania. From there, branches led to East Coast . . . — — Map (db m89265) HM
