Exhibit at Gregg County museum celebrates Eastman’s 75 years in East Texas
Published 5:30 am Saturday, July 19, 2025




Honey buns. Mustard bottles. Barbie dolls. Nail polish. What do they all have in common?
They all contain chemicals manufactured by Eastman Chemical Co., one of the most notable businesses in the Longview area. And for 75 years, that company’s facility has made chemicals that make up items people use every day at their homes, in their cars, at work and everywhere in between.
Eastman Chemical Co. is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its East Texas operations, and the company has set up a display at the Gregg County Historical Museum that gives people a look at the products the company makes, the uniforms employees wear and photos of its plant near Longview through the years.
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In August 1949, Eastman officials announced that they had picked Longview to build a new plant in Texas, a large expansion from their operations in Kingsport, Tennessee. The effort to bring the company here was an undertaking by several prominent East Texans, including heavy equipment manufacturer R.G. LeTourneau and Carl Estes, publisher of the Longview Daily News and Longview Morning Journal, the predecessors of the News-Journal.
The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and $1 for children.