<p>In 1845, the old Methodist church in this community was a log building called the “Meeting House.” This first church structure was used by other Protestant denominations, school was taught there and community meetings were held under its rustic beams.</p>
The Catholic Parish of Longview was established in 1880; from that mission parish has sprung the St. Anthony’s Catholic parish that Longview knows today.
Did you know we came that close to being called Roanoke County? It’s true. The 1873 state Legislature — mostly composed of carpetbaggers and pro-Unionists — was all set to name the newly proposed East Texas county “Roanoke.”
Flamboyant but frank. A super salesman who used his talents to sell his city on progress.
In the first official census in 1880, the city of Longview’s population was 1,525. As of 2018, it’s an estimated 81,424.
Longview was incorporated on May 17, 1871, the first community in Gregg County to do so. Here’s a look at the city’s mayors since that year.
The press has pushed Longview for progress since its first newspaper, the Longview News, a thrice-weekly with type that was handset by future Gov. James Stephen Hogg began circulating in 1871.
Gregg County was in mourning on Feb. 10, 1897. Word was spreading that the man who had created and named the county two decades earlier was dead at the age of 66.
Longview’s first mayor, Moses Kaufman Jr., was one of the 17 charter members who founded Masonic Lodge 404 shortly after the city was chartered.
Longview’s fourth mayor, Charles Whitney Booth, was one of the directors of the International & Great Northern Railroad’s offices here for 20 years.