Feb. 18, 1942: Longview Superintendent H.L. Foster appealed to parents to get their children to school on time in light of new War Time that saw classes starting 30 minutes earlier. The shift led to a large increase in the number of tardy students, complicating the start of schoolwork.
Feb. 17, 1943: With the motto “Food for Freedom,” the Longview Chamber of Commerce, supported by practically every civic organization in town, launched a citywide Victory Garden contest. The purpose, organizers said, was to grow food on every available square foot of ground in the city.Feb. 17, 1955: More than 40 amateur and professional acts from across East Texas auditioned at the Longview Community Center auditorium for a spot on the Horace Heidt show, which was set for Feb. 28. The event was sponsored by the Longview Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Feb. 16, 1931: Reports said the Arkansas Fuel Oil Co. had authorized plans for construction of a pipeline, probably from Longview, at an estimated cost of $1 million. Information was that the line would move production from the Lathrop field and other points in that area.
Feb. 15, 1952: Dust clouds from West Texas drifted across Longview and into Louisiana. The brown clouds cut visibility in Longview and Shreveport, and to a lesser degree in Tyler, Waco and Austin.
Feb. 14, 1956: The school board reelected its nine white and five colored principals at a meeting conducted in the afternoon because of three service club banquets in the evening. Among those reelected was T.G. Field of the high school and Lavert Everhart of the negro high school.
Feb. 12, 1955: A $500,000 bond issue for expansion of Gregg Memorial Hospital passed in an 8-to-1 landslide. While support was overwhelming in Longview, voters in Kilgore and Gladewater were strongly opposed. Smaller majorities in Liberty City and White Oak also voted against the plan.
Feb. 11, 1939: A Works Progress Administration sanitary sewer project was to be suspended so crews could focus on a new $75,000 water works project, said City Manager Bill N. Taylor. The sanitary and storm sewer projects employed about 65 men.
Cigars commemorating the Longview 150 sesquicentennial are for sale.
Feb. 10, 1952: A strike vote began among 400 East Texas members of the Oil Workers International Union (CIO). The vote was ordered by the union’s international office in Denver.