Longview Community Center
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Soon after organizing in 1934 Longview's federation of Women's Clubs began raising funds for a community center. The Federation produced matching funds for an appropriation of the Gregg County commissioners court to build this structure in 1940. It houses an auditorium, foyer, kitchen, two dining rooms, and a drawing room. It is an excellent example of the Moderne style and features vertically banded windows with circular accents and a simplified cornice and entablature. The site of numerous activities, the center continues to provide space for important community functions. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Soon after Longview's federation of Women's Clubs organized in 1934, its members began raising money for a community center, ultimately supplying matching funds that persuaded the Gregg County commissioners to help build the structure in 1940. The building offered an auditorium, foyer, kitchen, dining rooms, and a drawing room for civic life. A fine example of the Moderne style, it features vertically banded windows with circular accents and a streamlined cornice.
Why it matters
The center stands as a monument to Depression-era clubwomen whose organizing built lasting public spaces, a chapter of women's civic activism often overlooked in local history.
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