Longview, Texas: The Balloon Race Capital of Texas

The Great Texas Balloon Race started in 1978 when a hot air balloon was flown over Longview to promote the opening of the local mall. Since then, it’s become an annual event. In 1985, then Governor Mark White dubbed Longview The Balloon Capital of Texas. As you walk around town, you see balloons like this decorated by various businesses.

But that’s not all that Longview is about. It’s a city in East Texas that was founded in 1870. In an effort to lure the railroad to build close to land that he owned, O.H. Methvin sold 100 acres of land to the Southern Pacific Railroad for one dollar (that sounds like a deal from Trading Places). It was then rumored that when the railroad officials came to survey the land, they were standing on Mr. Methvin’s front porch and uttered the words, “What a long view!”

And so, in 1871, the city of Longview was incorporated. In 1874, it became the county seat of Gregg County, which was named for John Gregg, a confederate general who was killed in action during the Civil War.

The Southern Pacific Railroad did extend the tracks from Marshall but due to financial difficulties, further development was delayed, and Longview was the end of the line for a while. People from throughout East Texas would go to Longview and it quickly became a busy place for trading goods.

Eventually, other railroad lines went through Longview and the area became known as Longview Junction. There were two depots and a horse and buggy service that would transport passengers and their baggage from one depot to the other when passengers had to change trains. This is the Longview Depot which was built in 1939 replacing the station that was built in 1874. Amtrak still has passenger service through Longview.

The first county courthouse was a small temporary building that was on the corner of Fredonia and Tyler Streets.  It later moved to the second floor of W. G. Northcutt Hardware and Furniture store. In 1877, a fire destroyed most of the buildings in the commercial center of town and they were replaced by brick buildings. The Hardware store survived but a real courthouse was needed.

 In 1879, this courthouse was built. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to determine that there were structural issues with the building. By 1896, it was condemned.

In 1897, this new courthouse was erected on the square. In 1930, when oil was discovered in East Texas, it quickly became obvious that a new courthouse and jail with more space was required.

This courthouse was built directly behind the previous one so as not to disrupt the business of government. As the old courthouse is no longer there, I assume it was demolished upon completion of this new one. It's too bad they couldn't keep it as a museum.

Speaking of museums, this is the Everett building which houses the Gregg County Historical Museum. The building was erected in 1910 to house the Citizens National Bank. Other tenants include Commercial Guaranty State Bank of Longview, Rembert National Bank, American Red Cross and Lanier Clothier. Between 1960 and 1979, the building sat vacant. In 1979, the building was donated to the Gregg County Historical Foundation who then opened the museum.

 

Inside, they still have the bank vault which houses an exhibit describing the bank robbery of the First National Bank by Bill Dalton of the famed Dalton Gang. The event took place in 1894 when a member of the gang presented a note to the teller of the First National Bank. A gunfight broke out and one of the gang members was killed as was a local citizen.

Bill Dalton and the other gang members escaped to Oklahoma only to be hunted by a Sheriff's posse. Bill Dalton was killed. As part of the exhibit, there was this photo of his body. I always thought that a little weird that the dead bodies of these outlaws were photographed and put on display. I guess it was to prove that they'd been killed. Bill Dalton's body sat in the back of a wagon for two hours in the sun, being splashed with cool water as it was taken back to town for an autopsy. The body, as you can see, did not fare well in the sun. But that was the end of the Dalton Gang.

Outside the bank/museum is this lovely clock. It's McCarley's clock and it's over 100 years old. It once stood outside McCarley's jewelry store across the street. The clock was donated to the museum.

The jewelry store was housed in this building. McCarley's was established in 1920 by R.S. McCarley. They sold everything from jewelry to China to silver. Young girls would go there to register their China patterns. In 1933, RS married and when he retired in 1960, his stepson, HC purchased the business. When his HC retired 25 years later, his son, Clint took over. Clint died unexpectedly in 2006 and then HC died four years later. The two remaining sons took over the business. But with no heirs to take over, they made the sad decision in 2016 to close the store. 

One thing about Longview that I thought was kind of cool was Heritage Plaza. It's a square not far from the County Courthouse and it has this sign where John gets to be the "I". 

But it also has a series of brick walls where each side has two plaques per side, 20 in all, that basically tell the history of Longview by decade. That was very well done. 

This is the Franklin Lucilius Whaley House. Frank was one of the original settlers in 1871, which is when the house was built. He was a hardware merchant and also served as the mayor of Longview. The rumor is that this was the fourth house built in Longview and is the oldest standing structure in Longview today. The Whaley family lived in this house until 1979. It was purchased for use as a law firm and continues to be so today.

During World War II, the government built a hospital here for the veterans that also doubled as a prison for German prisoners. It was closed after the war and remained empty until Robert LeTourneau bought it and turned into a Technical Institute to train veterans for jobs. That became LeTourneau University.

We were only there one day. It seemed like there were two Longviews. One was the more modern section of town that had your standard chain restaurants like Texas Roadhouse, Olive Garden, etc., hotel chains, and strip malls. On this side of town is where the history lives. The Historical Society did a good job documenting the history of town but the museum itself was a little "cluttered".  If they had the space, they could have spread things out a little.

Having said that, it's still definitely worth a visit and it's only $5 a person. Longview also had a Fine Arts Museum that had free admission. We didn't go in as there was a lot of construction going on. 

There are about 80k people in this town. It doesn't feel that big. The major employers are Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center, Eastman Chemical, Longview Regional Medical Center and Dollar General. As I mentioned, they have a mall with all the major fast food and restaurant chains. The big grocery stores like Kroger and Walmart are there as well. 

Longview has some good local hole in the wall places as well. We went to a place called Little Mexico for dinner. We got there a little before 5 on a Wednesday and the place was packed. The food was delicious!

It was a nice place to visit but I don't think I could live there.