O. H. Methvin, Sr., Founder of Longview

The Stephen F. Austin State University Heritage Center names him Ossamus Hitch Methvin, called Ossie, and says he sold the Southern Pacific 100 acres on April 7, 1870 for one gold dollar. The agreement said the railroad would enhance the value of lands along the line. The railroad bypassed Earpville and put its depot and new town about a mile west. The first train reached Longview from Hallsville on February 21, 1871, delayed by several derailments. Methvin, often called the father of Longview, died in 1882, and Margaret outlived him by twelve years.

What the plaque says

O. H. Methvin, Sr., Founder of Longview 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

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• East Texas Oil Museum — 11 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 21 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — 22 mi
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 22 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.

More markers nearby

• The Courthouses of Gregg County — steps away
• General John Gregg — steps away
• 1919 Longview Race Riot — steps away
• Dalton Gang's Last Raid — steps away