Longview, Texas

During World War II, Longview gained national prominence as the gathering point for the Big Inch pipeline, designed to protect crude oil for the war effort from sabotage on its way to Pennsylvania. That story is one of many described on wall panels in Heritage Plaza, where visitors can learn about this Texas Main Street city’s first century, from 1870 to 1970. An agricultural scene is depicted in Thomas M. Stell Jr.’s 1946 mural, “Rural East Texas,” in the downtown post office. At the Gregg County Historical Museum, exhibits range from Caddo Indian artifacts to a Dalton Gang bank robbery to the history of Texas architecture.