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.
Longview is not only the oldest town in Gregg County. It is three years older than the county itself. It became a townsite in 1870 and was incorporated in 1871.
A 15-year resident of Longview, Thomas Mitchell Campbell, was the second native Texan to become governor of the state.
The future Texas Gov. James S. Hogg founded the Longview News in the fall of 1871.
From the perspective of 90 years, W.A. “Tex” Moncrief Jr. still remembers the hazy, rainy day the well came in. It was a day that forever changed East Texas history.
From the perspective of 90 years, W.A. “Tex” Moncrief Jr. still remembers the hazy, rainy day the well came in. It was a day that forever changed East Texas history.
<p>Barney Skipper, born in Alabama in 1882, was a farmer and real-estate man in Longview. For 25 years he’d tried to get petroleum companies to drill in Gregg County.</p>
<p>Pioneer settlers were naturally concerned with the prospects for raising a good crop in the Longview area.</p>