Greenwood Cemetery
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1877, J. M. Cornes purchased four acres on this site and, with county surveyor A. S. Taylor, established "the Longview Cemetery," dedicating its streets to public use. It lay barely outside the city limits and immediately north of the junction subdivision platted three years earlier by the International & Great Northern Railroad. In 1884, Cornes and Taylor extended their cemetery to Magrill Street by acquiring 155 feet of the subdivision. Plots provided space for an estimated 3,392 graves exclusive of a Potter's Field. Most remains in the Pioneer Boring and Leake Cemetery (on what became the east end of College Street) were reinterred here. The earliest headstone from that graveyard is that of Louisa Stroud (1820-1856). The earliest marked grave original to this site apparently is that of Ida Denny (1874-1878). The cemetery was renamed "Greenwood " in 1905, the same year it was included within the city limits. Burials in Greenwood include a veteran of the war of 1812 and 37 known Confederate veterans. Also located here are the graves of three people killed during the 1894 robbery of the First National Bank of Longview by the infamous Dalton Gang, and those of a family that fell victim to the 1900 Galveston storm. Many pioneers and prominent citizens are interred here, including O. H. Methvin, who deeded 150 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad for the townsite and is known as the father of Longview; Bluford W. Brown, who as state legislator secured the creation of Gregg County; and Britton Buttrill, the Earpville stagecoach stop operator who became a founding commissioner and first treasurer of Gregg County. Greenwood Cemetery is a chronicle of the history of this area. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Laid out in 1877 just beyond Longview's limits and beside a new railroad subdivision, this burial ground became the resting place for the town's founding generation. Its rows hold a War of 1812 veteran, dozens of Confederate soldiers, victims of the 1894 Dalton Gang bank robbery, and a family lost in the 1900 Galveston hurricane, alongside civic fathers like O.H. Methvin, called the father of Longview. Renamed Greenwood in 1905 when the city grew to enclose it, the cemetery reads almost as a directory of the region's past.
Why it matters
Greenwood gathers into one place the railroad boom, frontier violence, and natural disaster that shaped East Texas, making a single cemetery a chronicle of how a town came to be.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Greenwood Cemetery was born in the railroad age. When J.M. Cornes bought four acres here in 1877 and, with county surveyor A.S. Taylor, laid out "the Longview Cemetery," the town itself was a young, fast-growing creature of the tracks. The burial ground sat just outside the city limits, immediately north of a subdivision the International & Great Northern Railroad had platted only three years earlier. In East Texas in the 1870s, the railroad didn't just serve towns — it made them.
This was the Reconstruction and Gilded Age South, a region rebuilding after the Civil War even as new industry and new arrivals reshaped it. A town like Longview grew around the junction of commerce and rail, and its cemetery grew with it. By 1884 Cornes and Taylor had to extend the grounds to Magrill Street, buying up 155 feet of that railroad subdivision to make room — space, eventually, for an estimated 3,392 graves beyond the Potter's Field.
The cemetery also became a gathering place for the dead of earlier days. Most remains from the older Pioneer Boring and Leake Cemetery were reinterred here, carrying the community's memory forward. Among them was the stone of Louisa Stroud, born in 1820, the earliest headstone brought over; the earliest marked grave original to this site appears to be that of a child, Ida Denny, who lived only from 1874 to 1878.
People & events
To walk Greenwood is to walk through the founding of a Texas town. Here lies O.H. Methvin, remembered as the father of Longview, who deeded 150 acres to the railroad for the townsite — the land gift that gave the town its reason to exist. Near him rests Bluford W. Brown, the state legislator who secured the creation of Gregg County itself, and Britton Buttrill, who ran the Earpville stagecoach stop before becoming a founding commissioner and the county's first treasurer. Civic history, in this cemetery, has an address.
But Greenwood also gathers the era's violence and tragedy. Buried here are three people killed during the 1894 robbery of the First National Bank of Longview by the infamous Dalton Gang — a burst of Old West outlawry that reached this railroad town and left its mark in blood. Not far away lie members of a family who perished in the 1900 Galveston storm, the deadliest natural disaster in American history.
The older wars are represented too: a veteran of the War of 1812 and 37 known Confederate veterans rest within these grounds. The cemetery took the name Greenwood in 1905 — the same year the growing city finally reached out and enclosed it within the limits it had once sat just beyond.
Its place in the American story
Greenwood Cemetery reads almost as a chronicle of how America itself expanded in the 19th century. The railroad that platted the neighboring subdivision was part of the vast rail network that stitched the country together after the Civil War, turning frontier crossroads into commercial towns almost overnight. The founders buried here — the man who gave land to the railroad, the legislator who created the county — are the local face of that national transformation.
The cemetery also holds two of the most American of stories side by side. The Dalton Gang's raid belongs to the closing chapter of the Wild West, when outlaw gangs still robbed banks and towns still fought back. The victims of the 1900 Galveston hurricane belong to a national tragedy — a storm that remains the deadliest natural disaster the United States has ever seen. That both are commemorated in one Texas graveyard shows how the great currents of the age washed through even a single community.
And threaded through it all is the long arc of American service, from a veteran who fought in the War of 1812 to the Confederate soldiers of the Civil War generation. In one set of grounds, the nation's expansions, conflicts, and calamities converge.
If you visit
Greenwood is a place to explore with the eye of a detective, because the marker turns it into a directory of the town's past. Start at the Texas Historical Commission marker and orient yourself, then seek out the founders — Methvin, Brown, and Buttrill — whose graves anchor the civic story of Longview and Gregg County.
Older cemeteries like this often reveal their history in layers. Look for the earliest stones, including those carried over from the vanished Pioneer, Boring, and Leake grounds, and the graves of the War of 1812 and Confederate veterans. Somewhere among the rows lie the victims of the 1894 bank robbery and the family lost to the Galveston storm — a reminder that a quiet cemetery can hold some of the most dramatic events of its age.
Because it sits within Longview, Greenwood makes a rewarding stop on a day spent exploring the town's history. Give yourself time to wander; the marker essentially hands you a reading list of names and events, and half the pleasure is finding them among the monuments. As always in an active cemetery, tread gently and let the stories come to you.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · O.H. Methvin
- · Bluford W. Brown
- · Britton Buttrill
Related events
- · 1894 Dalton Gang bank robbery
- · 1900 Galveston hurricane
Themes & tags
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