Longview Train Depot
Longview, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
With railroad expansion headed west, O.H. Methvin deeded 150 acres to Southern Pacific Railroad in 1870. In 1871, Longview became the westward terminus of the railroad. Construction of a railroad line between Longview and Palestine began in 1872 by International Railroad (later called International & Great Northern Railroad). This line reached an area known as the junction just east of Longview. Texas and Pacific (T&P) railway company acquired Southern Pacific Railroad and began construction on a passenger depot in 1939 located in the junction. The 1940 completed depot replaced an earlier station that was built in 1874. To access the concrete platform where travelers waited for the train, passengers utilized a tunnel that connected the depot to the platform. Designed in the Colonial Revival Style, the train depot, also called the T&P/MO-PAC depot, includes stylized quoins, a brick cornice and grey stone trim used to highlight the coping, keystones and lintels. The one-and-a-half story building contained a ticket office, waiting rooms, restrooms, telegraph office, yard office, baggage/express office and mail room. The original dormers were removed sometime after construction but were later restored. Two porches were part of the original structure for a waiting area, baggage and freight. As a town founded by the railroad, Longview has always been connected to railways and, at one time, boasted three depots. Now, the 1940 Longview Train Depot is the only remaining depot in Longview.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Longview owes its existence to the railroad: in 1870 O. H. Methvin deeded 150 acres to the Southern Pacific, and by 1871 the town had become the line's western terminus, soon a junction where the International & Great Northern crossed. The Texas and Pacific replaced an 1874 station with the Colonial Revival depot completed in 1940, whose passengers reached the platform through a tunnel and whose walls bore stylized quoins, keystones, and grey stone trim. Once boasting three depots, Longview retains only this one — the last survivor of the railway network that created the town.
Why it matters
The depot embodies the railroad's power to conjure whole cities from open land, and stands as the last physical trace of the rail junction that gave Longview its name and its reason to exist.
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Related people
- · O. H. Methvin
Themes & tags
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