A few blocks from the Longview courthouse is a very valuable piece of land. Why so valuable? Well, it can never be sold.....the owners are ALL the Negroes of Longview.

The land was deeded to Longview community's negroes by John R. Magrill over 100 years ago and the title is still regarded as valid. During the oil boom days of the 1930's, numerous attempts were made to buy the 1 acre....but the hopeful purchasers could not get over all the legal hurdles.

The property, which touches First, Padon, Green & Groove Streets, is maintained by the city as a park and is tax exempt land. A small building used as a day care nursery and kindergarten adorns the land.

Originally the tract of land was a dense, wooded area. Few trees remain, having died or been cut, but the land is still called "The Grove".

The story of the gift of land goes something like this:

According to C.A. Magrill, descendant of the donor, the property was given to the Negroes long before Longview was ever founded. He states the date is roughly around 1850. He said, "Uncle John Magrill came to Texas from Alabama some time in the 1840's and acquired a lot of timbered land. Gregg County had not yet been created but was a part of Upshur County. On the present site of Longview was a community known as Arpville. There were quite a few Negroes in the area and apparently they had no suitable place to worship. Uncle John deeded the land not just to one group but to all the Negroes so that they could build what was then known as a meeting house. It was to be used by members of all demoninations."

C.A. Magrill, whose family came originally from Ireland, says the original deed was destroyed in the courthouse fire at Gilmer and the exact wording of the document is not now known.

Some of the old-timers have heard the story handed down through several generations and say the property was transferred to "all persons of African descent in Upshur County." C.A. Magrill, however, believes the gift was intended only for the Negroes in the old Arpville community.

Whatever the true story, it is unlikely that the Negroes' claim to the property will ever be successfully challenged. For, regardless of the wording of the deed, city and county authorities, as well as the taxpayers, appear willint to concede that "The Grove" belongs to all the Negroes of Longview.
 

The above information was found among loose papers in the vertical files of the Genealogy Dept. of the Longview Library.