Longview, Texas map
32.50° N · 94.74° W · Gregg County seat · elev. ~340 ft · Central Time
Longview is a railroad town that became an oil town. The Texas and Pacific reached the site in 1870 and the settlement grew around the tracks; sixty years later the East Texas Oil Field — discovered in 1930 a few miles south in Rusk County — turned it into a supply and shipping center almost overnight. The city has since spilled east across the county line, so part of Longview lies in Harrison County.
Centered downtown. Loop 281 is the ring north of the center; I-20 runs across the bottom of the frame.
Where Longview is in Texas
Longview is 125 miles east of Dallas on I-20 and about 60 miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana on the same road, which makes it the largest Texas city on that stretch of interstate. Tyler is 40 miles west, Marshall 25 miles east, and Kilgore — where the oil field's derricks once stood in the middle of downtown — is 15 miles south on US-259.
Gregg County is one of the smallest counties in Texas by area, about 275 square miles, yet it holds more than 124,000 people, most of them in Longview, Kilgore and Gladewater. The city limits reach east into Harrison County, whose seat is Marshall; Upshur County lies north, Rusk County south and Smith County west.
Oil and rail
The East Texas Oil Field was the largest field found in the lower 48 states, and it stretched across Gregg, Rusk, Upshur, Smith and Cherokee counties. Longview supplied it — pipe yards, machine shops, tank farms — and the industry that grew from it still shows in the manufacturing plants along the rail lines on the south and east sides.
The railroad is still working. Union Pacific runs a yard here, and Amtrak's Texas Eagle stops at the depot on Pacific Avenue downtown on its run between Chicago, Dallas and San Antonio; it is one of the busiest Amtrak stops in Texas, partly because a connecting Thruway bus links it to Houston. East Texas Regional Airport sits south of the city off US-259.
Highways
- I-20 – along the south side; west to Tyler, Canton and Dallas, east to Marshall and the Louisiana line.
- US-259 – north to Gilmer, Daingerfield and Texarkana; south to Kilgore, Henderson and Nacogdoches. Freeway grade through the city.
- US-80 – the old highway parallel to I-20, running through Greggton and downtown to Marshall.
- US-271 – northwest from Gladewater to Pittsburg, Mount Pleasant and Paris.
- SH-31 – west to Kilgore and Tyler, continuing to Athens and Corsicana.
- SH-300 (Gilmer Road) – northwest out of the city toward Gilmer.
- Loop 281 – the arterial loop across the north side carrying most of the city's retail traffic.
Lakes around Longview
East Texas has no natural lakes to speak of, so every body of water near Longview is a reservoir. Lake O' the Pines, a Corps of Engineers lake on Big Cypress Bayou, is about 30 miles north by way of US-259 and SH-155, with several parks on its south shore. Lake Cherokee, a private lake built by an electric utility, lies just south of the city on the Gregg–Rusk line. Martin Creek Lake State Park is about 25 miles south near Tatum, on a cooling reservoir for a power plant. Caddo Lake, 45 miles east on the Louisiana line, is the exception — a cypress-filled lake with a natural origin, later dammed.
The Great Texas Balloon Race, flown from East Texas Regional Airport, brings the city its largest crowd of the summer.
Areas and neighborhoods
| Area | What's there |
|---|---|
| Downtown | Gregg County courthouse, the Amtrak depot, Heritage Plaza and the Gregg County Historical Museum |
| North Longview / Loop 281 | Longview Mall, hospitals and most chain retail |
| Greggton | West side along US-80, an older separate settlement absorbed by the city |
| Pine Tree | Northwest quadrant with its own school district, off SH-300 |
| Spring Hill | North side beyond Loop 281, also a separate district |
| Judson | Between Pine Tree and downtown, north of US-80 |
| South Longview | LeTourneau University on Mobberly Avenue, industrial plants and the airport road |
| East Longview | The Harrison County portion, out toward Hallsville on US-80 |
| Lake Cherokee | Private lake south of the city on the Gregg–Rusk line |
Distances from Longview
| City | Road miles | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Tyler | 40 | I-20 W |
| Nacogdoches | 65 | US-259 S |
| Texarkana | 75 | US-259 N |
| Lufkin | 90 | US-259 S / US-59 S |
| Paris | 100 | US-271 NW |
| Dallas | 125 | I-20 W |
| Houston | 205 | US-259 S / US-59 S |
Longview, Kilgore, Gladewater and Marshall are counted together as the Longview metropolitan area, which is why local signage often treats them as one place.