Starting a City Right The Beginning of Longview

The Oakley Herald
Oakley, Idaho
October 24, 1924

"Longview certainly was started right!” That was the unanimous decision of thousands of people from all over the country who attended the recent four day pageant of progress with which a one-year-old city of more than 5,000 population at the confluence of the Columbia and Cowlitz rivers, halfway between Portland and the ocean, celebrated its first birthday. The story of Longview is told by Robert Alexander Long for whom the city was named. 

“In 1922 the officers of the Long-Bell Lumber company decided to build a huge lumber mill in Washington to manufacture lumber from large timber holdings which the company had in southwestern Washington. After much study of lumbering methods employed in the Pacific Northwest, after a careful survey of the territory between Portland and the sea, it was decided to locate the new Long-Bell Douglas Fir lumber manufacturing plants at the point where the Cowlitz river empties into the mighty Columbia." 

"The new mills were to become the largest lumber mills in the world; and to operate such a tremendous enterprise, thousands of men would be required. But the site of Longview was only farm land, there was no town, there was no place to house the thousands of men needed to operate this great manufacturing plant, a town was needed. So a town was ordered. After much study of the location, the raw materials in close proximity to Longview, the transportation facilities by water and rail and highway, it was realized that Longview offered greater possibilities than merely the building of a lumber manufacturing town." 

Longview should be more than that, Longview's potential possibilities which in years to come should make it one of the largest manufacturing towns in the Pacific Northwest. To plan the present and the future course of the new industrial city many men famous in this line of work were called into consultation, city planners and builders, landscape architects, engineers and real estate men.

These men in consultation with a number of others, planned the city of Longview and laid it out in accordance with a definite scheme of city zoning. Under this plan a certain section of the city along the waterfront of the Columbia river was set aside as a manufacturing district, other section of the city were reserved for the erection of residences, one for the erection of apartment houses, another section was set apart as the retail district of Longview, still another section was designated for the building of garages, automobile salesrooms and accessory stores. 

This system of city zoning will stabilize property values in Longview, for apartment buildings or business houses will not be permitted to encroach on residential districts nor will manufacturing plants be permitted to operate in the retail district. Under this plan there will be a place for everything in Longview and everything will be kept in its place, thus assuring a city of stability, beauty and efficiency.

The main streets of Longview are wide; broad thoroughfares and boulevards are provided along all of the principal natural lines of traffic. Some of these streets radiate in various directions from the business center, yet they are so arranged in their relation to other streets that alternative routes are provided near the center, so that congestion of traffic is not forced to the center. The arrangement of the principal thoroughfares tends to fix the permanent center of the city with the result that Longview will expand around a fixed pivot and the city should not grow and values shift first in one direction, then in another, as has been so characteristic of many American cities.

In the business district the blocks are short and the streets are of ample width to care for present and all future needs. Under this system the greatest street area has been concentrated in that section where traffic will be heavy, in the residential districts, where lighter traffic conditions do not warrant such a large street area, the blocks are much longer. In the hilly sections of the town the streets are carefully adjusted to the topography of the land, thus preserving the unusually fine scenery and home sites in these areas.

Alleys have been provided at the rear of most of the lots in both the business and residential areas. Electric power and telephone lines will be arranged in these alleys wherever possible, and in easements along rear lines where there are no alleys, thus clearing most of the streets of unsightly poles and allowing the undisturbed growth of street trees. A six-acre park has been provided at the center of the radiating thoroughfares, which is the focal point of vistas from various directions. 

Around this park will be grouped the various public and municipal buildings of monumental character. Another park of one hundred acres has been provided in the form of a crescent-shaped parkway, from 500 to 800 feet wide and a mile and a half long, surrounding the inner city (known as the Plat of Longview) on the westerly and southwesterly sides. This park is bordered by two boulevards.

On July 12, 1923, this wonderfully located and carefully planned city was formally dedicated. Ten thousand people came and saw a city in the making. They witnessed the beginning of construction of the world’s largest lumber mills, they saw the beginning of the Longview dock on the Columbia river, they saw a new railroad being built along the west hank of the Cowlitz to Ryderwood, 30 miles to the north. 

They saw the beginning of street grading and the erection of business houses and homes. A year later many of those who attended the dedication of the city returned with thousands of others to help the new city celebrate its first birthday and to witness the opening of the great lumber manufacturing plants. And those who had seen the spot a year previous marveled. What had transpired since their last visit was a monument to construction speed with nothing sacrificed to speed. 

In 97 days the Cowlitz river had been spanned with a steel railroad bridge. In a year's time had been erected fir lumber manufacturing plants covered by 34 acres of roof. Docks 1,400 feet long on the Columbia river, designed to carry 1,000 pounds per square foot and long enough to accommodate four large ocean-going vessels at the same time were completed. And on the spot which the year before was vacant farm land, stood a young city of more than 5,000 population, nearly 900 homes and 281 business enterprises.

Here they saw a town just a year old with a six story fireproof hotel of 200 rooms, a hotel of which a city of a hundred thousand would be proud. Two other smaller hotels had been built. Here had been developed a modem school system with 24 teachers and 932 students enrolled. Longview had a dally newspaper with over 4,000 paid circulation and Associated Press franchise. 

The year-old city boasted a community church of 400 members which supported a Bible class of 242 men. Two banks with 2,500 depositors and assets of over a million dollars were doing business. Ten miles of streets had been paved and 17 miles of concrete sidewalks had been put in. Fifty-eight miles of streets were graded and 32 miles were graveled. Thirty-two miles of water mains had been laid, 27 miles of storm and sanitary sewers large enough to serve a city of a hundred thousand population had been put in.

In the business section of the city the telephone and electric light lines had been placed underground. A railroad car building plant, a strawboard and paper mill, a concrete brick plant, a concrete tile and pipe plant had located in Longview, new factories were in prospect and business buildings and homes by the score were under construction. Here was a town just a year old that had transportation facilities that would be envied by many a metropolitan manufacturing city. 

Situated on tide water on the Columbia river the young city already had become a port of call for many ocean-going vessels. Three great transcontinental railway systems; the Northern Pacific, Great Northern and Union Pacific, to serve Longview in taking its products to every city in the United States, and two famous highways; the Columbia River Highway and the Pacific Highway, to care for the motor traffic and transportation.

Four days they celebrated the first birthday of the city and the opening of the large fir lumber manufacturing plants which would give employment to many residents of Longview. The 75,000 or more visitors to the new city were royally entertained by logging sports, a regatta on the Columbia river, ball games and tennis matches, fireworks and dances in the evenings, a Wild West rodeo in the athletic stadium, and a long pageant of progress parade. 

They listened to speeches by noted men from various walks of life, among whom were senators, governors, business men, an admiral of the United States Navy and two sermons on the Sabbath by the Rev. Billy Sunday, the famous evangelist. And all of the speakers professed a great faith in the future of Longview and paid tribute to the founder of the city and to the men who worked out all of the details and intricacies of the plan by which Longview was built.

As they reflected over what they had just seen and what had taken place in the brief period of one year, they marveled at the development and were of the unanimous opinion that “Longview was started right."