Editor’s note: This is adapted from a history provided for the Longview Morning Journal during the city’s centennial in 1970 by Mrs. John Harrison, who then lived in the historic Rembert family home and whose husband was the nephew of Mrs. Frank Taylor Rembert.Frank Taylor Rembert was born Nov. 9, 1853, in Wesson, Copiah County, Mississippi.
Longview was built on its early connection to the railroad, agriculture-related industries and finance.
The earliest reference to a City Hall is found on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps dated October 1890, 20 years after Longview was founded.
Columbus Marion Joiner had two towns named after him. Just like the oil business the old wildcatter loved so much, one burg went bust while the other boomed.
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>
The building that houses the Gregg County Historical Museum itself is an important part of Longview history.
Gold and silver rode the steadily lengthening railroad tracks as the Southern Pacific Railway steamed inland to Longview. The railroad brought new settlers, business and industry, creating a money market and the first bank with a booming population.