Kilgore
Kilgore, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
"Oil City of the World" Founded 1872 with coming of the I.G.N. Railroad. Named for site donor, a Confederate colonel, Constantine B. Kilgore, State Senator and U. S. Congressman. Geographical center of huge East Texas oil field. World's greatest concentration of steel derricks. Petroleum production, service, supply, processing hub. Commercial, industrial, farm, education and medical center. Home of Kilgore College and its famous "Rangerettes", women's precision drill team; and of Van Cliburn, international concert pianist.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Kilgore began in 1872 as a railroad town named for a Confederate colonel turned congressman, but its destiny arrived with the East Texas oil boom, which planted it at the center of one of the richest fields on earth. At its peak the town bristled with a famous forest of steel derricks and became a hub of petroleum production and supply. It also nurtured surprising cultural fame, as home to Kilgore College, its celebrated Rangerettes drill team, and the young concert pianist Van Cliburn.
Why it matters
Kilgore captures the transformative power of the East Texas oil strike, which turned sleepy farm towns into industrial boomtowns and reshaped the state's economy for a century.
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Related people
- · Constantine B. Kilgore
- · Van Cliburn
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Allis-Chalmers Pumps
Kilgore, TX
These twin Allis-Chalmers reciprocating pumps stand as relics of Kilgore's transformation into an oil boomtown after the Lou Della Crim No. 1 well blew in on December 28, 1930, opening the vast East Texas field. Brought here in 1931 by the Shell Pipe Line Corporation to push crude toward Houston-area refineries, the pumps ran until 1985 and are estimated to have moved over a billion barrels.
The Kilgore I&GN-Missouri Pacific Railroad Station
Kilgore, TX
The town of Kilgore owes its existence to the railroad, which platted a townsite in the early 1870s on land tied to C. B. "Buck" Kilgore, who had donated a right-of-way and lent the community his name. This depot, completed in 1872, handled passengers and freight and served the surrounding farming and lumber country. When oil was struck nearby in the early 1930s, the station's shipments surged, and it later saw troop trains roll through before rail traffic faded and the depot closed in 1977.
Liberty City
Kilgore, TX
This rural Gregg County community was settled before the Civil War and carried a string of colorful names — Sabine, Mount Moriah, McCrary's Chapel, Goforth, and Hog Eye, the last for a settler with a keen eye for hogs. It took the name Liberty City in the opening days of the fabled East Texas oil boom, which transformed the county's economy. The area built its reputation on good schools, farming, ranching, and an admired network of all-weather county roads.
Longview
Longview, TX
When surveyors laid out this East Texas townsite in 1870, they named it for the long view from Rock Hill, and the settlement incorporated the following year as the seat of Gregg County. Railroads, lumber, and cotton built the early town, which saw the notorious Dalton Gang stage its final raid on a local bank in 1894 and raised two future Texas governors. The 1931 Lathrop well nearby pushed the East Texas oil field into the largest in the world, transforming Longview into a petroleum and financial hub.