DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, every town's got an origin story, and Longview, Texas has got one worth savoring. It starts, as so many East Texas stories do, with a man, a patch of land, and a long way from home.
About 1848, O. H. Methvin and his father Richard came to Texas from Georgia.
O. H. was born in 1815, and somewhere along the line he'd developed a nose for good land, because what he found out here in East Texas was something special. He bought about twelve hundred acres of it.
Twelve hundred acres. And part of that spread, right here where you're standing, was his cornfield. Not exactly a glamorous beginning.
A cornfield. But hold on. Methvin built a home on nearby Rock Hill for his wife Margaret and their children, and for a while that was just a quiet life on a quiet hill in East Texas.
Then 1870 came around, and O. H. Methvin made a decision that would change everything in this corner of the world.
He deeded one hundred acres of his land to the Southern Pacific Railroad. One hundred acres, right out of that original twelve hundred. The railroad came, and with it came people, commerce, and the makings of a town.
Now here's the part I love. When the surveyors came out to do their work, they climbed up on Rock Hill, the same hill where Methvin had built his home for Margaret and the children, and they looked out. And what they saw stopped them.
A long, sweeping, open view stretching way out across the East Texas landscape. They were impressed enough that when the town took shape along that rail line, they called it Longview. Because of that view.
From that hill. The town didn't waste any time after that. With the formation of Gregg County, Longview became the county seat in 1873.
A cornfield, then a railroad grant, then a county seat. O. H.
Methvin passed in 1882, but the town he planted, quite literally on his own land, was already rooted deep. This marker was sponsored by his great and great-great grandchildren, which tells you something right there. Some legacies you don't have to argue about.
You just point at a city.
What the marker says
About 1848, O. H. Methvin (1815-1882) and his father Richard came to Texas from Georgia. O. H. Methvin bought about 1,200 acres in East Texas, including this site, which was his cornfield. He built a home on nearby Rock Hill for his wife Margaret and their children. In 1870 Methvin deeded 100 acres of his land to the Southern Pacific Railroad. The town that developed on the rail line was named Longview when surveyors were impressed with the long-range view afforded them from Rock Hill. With the formation of Gregg County, Longview became the county seat in 1873. Incise on back: Sponsors - Great and Great, Great Grandchildren