Long Lake

Long Lake is a rural community eleven miles southwest of Palestine on the Missouri Pacific line and the combined U.S. highways 84 and 79 by the Trinity River in southwestern Anderson County. Presumably named for nearby Long Lake, the townsite was originally part of a 4,200-acre plantation purchased by Hugo Monnig in 1911. While the Long Lake plantation was developed for cotton production, the site grew into the trading and shipping center for the surrounding agricultural area because of its location on what was then the International-Great Northern Railroad. In 1913 A. L. Bowers drilled several unsuccessful wells in the area, and in 1932–33 several profitable oil and gas wells were developed in the Long Lake oilfield and in nearby Tucker by the Tidewater and Texas Seaboard Oil Company. At one point in the 1930s the Long Lake field was claimed to be the largest in East Texas. In 1939 the community had five businesses, a school, and an estimated population of 125. The oil boom was only temporary, however, and from 1949 to 1966, the last year figures are available for the community, the population of Long Lake was consistently estimated at forty. In 1982 Long Lake included a number of scattered dwellings and, about half a mile to the east, the Green Bay High School and a church. In 1985 the oilfields to the north of the community were still in production.