Big Inch Pipeline Lecture & Panel Discussion

LONGVIEW — The anniversary of the Big Inch Pipeline will be celebrated this month in Longview. The East Texas Oil Museum at Kilgore College and the Gregg County Historical Museum will present, “Oil for Victory: Big Inch Pipeline Lecture and Panel.” Longview is celebrating their sesquicentenial anniversary in 2020 and this month remembers the Big Inch Pipeline. The Big Inch was a 1,254 mile-long pipeline transporting Texas crude oil through the Midwest and on to the east coast.

Construction began in 1942 on the oil pipeline that changed the course of World War II with more than 350 million barrels of crude oil flowing from East Texas to the northeast states. The event is set for 1 to 3 p.m. Jan. 25, in the gymnasium at Red Oak Baptist Church in Longview, located on S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Local historian Larry Courington will begin the program with a lecture at 1 p.m. with the story of the Big Inch Pipeline. At 1:30 p.m., the panel discussion will include Dr. Don Carleton, Executive Director of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas; Kimberly Fish, local author; Mickey Smith, former Gregg County Judge; and Luke Legate, Director of G. Fox Consulting. After the panel discussion, there will be a question-and-answer session at 2 p.m., followed by light refreshments and opportunities for photos. For more information, contact Olivia Moore, ETOM Manager, at 903-983-8295 or email [email protected].