Kilgore, Texas

Everything Kilgore is known for

2 songs mention this city 2 artists from here

Music in Kilgore

Songs About Kilgore

East Texas Red
Tom Russell
7%
"He worked the town of Kilgore"
East Texas Red
Arlo Guthrie
7%
"He worked the town of Kilgore and Longview nine miles down"

Artists From Kilgore

W
Wayne Hancock
country Pop: 52
A
Ally Venable
blues Pop: 36

Rivers & Roads in Song near Kilgore

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Kilgore.

Interstate 20 13 songs Sabine River 13 songs U.S. Route 59 7 songs Kickapoo Creek 4 songs

History of Kilgore

The World's Richest Acre RoadyGoat

When the boom hit Kilgore, it hit downtown. There were no spacing rules yet, no laws about how far apart wells had to be, so people drilled wherever they could buy or lease a scrap of land, even the lots between storefronts. Things got so crowded that one roughly one-acre block in the middle of town ended up holding around two dozen oil wells, their derricks crammed together so tightly the legs practically overlapped. It became the most densely drilled patch of ground anywhere on Earth. People started calling it the World's Richest Acre, and the name stuck. You can still go stand on the spot today, where a few restored derricks mark just how unbelievably packed it once was. It's a perfect snapshot of a boom moving faster than anyone could regulate it, when the rush to reach the oil first turned a downtown block into a forest of steel.

Kilgore, TX RoadyGoat

Kilgore's story is etched in black gold, but its foundations run deeper than the oil boom of the 1930s. It began as a railroad stop, named for Constantine Buckley Kilgore, a figure who symbolized the promise of connection and commerce brought by the rails. While the town's initial settlers came from various backgrounds, drawn by the prospect of a new life in East Texas, the discovery of oil irrevocably changed its trajectory. The boom attracted people from all over the country, a melting pot of ambition and desperation seeking fortune beneath the piney woods. The sudden influx strained existing infrastructure and social structures, but it also forged a resilient, resourceful spirit. Though the specific dialects and traditions brought by those early migrants have largely faded into the general East Texas vernacular, a certain rugged individualism and a deep-seated belief in opportunity remain. The legacy of that boom is still visible in the architecture of downtown, in the annual celebrations of the oil industry, and, perhaps most profoundly, in the community's unwavering support for institutions like Kilgore College, whose Rangerettes have become a symbol of local pride. The land itself, once a quiet expanse of rolling hills within the Sabine River watershed, whispers of that transformative era, a constant reminder of the boom that shaped Kilgore into the town it is today.

The World's Richest Acre RoadyGoat

If you head downtown, you can find what was once called the 'World's Richest Acre.' It's a single city block that perfectly illustrates the insanity of the Kilgore oil boom. In 1931, the block was so crowded with competing landowners that the only way to drill was to pack the wells side-by-side. At the peak, twenty-four wells were crammed onto just ten lots owned by six different operators, with derricks so close their legs had to be interwoven. The official historical marker calls it the most densely drilled tract in the world. They produced over 2.5 million barrels of oil, an unbelievable fortune from such a tiny patch of ground. Downtown Kilgore itself sprouted more than a thousand wells during the frenzy, a whole forest of steel that once towered over the streets. The original wooden derricks are gone now, but the city has raised a cluster of steel derricks, standing nearly fifty feet tall, right back on that same historic spot. It stands as a powerful monument to the incredible wealth and chaotic energy that erupted right here.

World's Richest Acre

1930

Part of fabulous East Texas oil field discovered in 1930. This 1.195-acre tract had first production on June 17, 1937, when the Mrs. Bess Johnson-Adams & Hale No. 1 well was brought in. Developed before well-spacing rules, this block is the most densely drilled tract in the world, with 24 wells on 10 lots owned by six different operators. This acre has produced over two and a half million barrels of crude oil; selling at $1.10 to $3.25 a barrel, it has brought more than five and a half million dollars. A forest of steel derricks for many years stood over the more than 1,000 wells in downtown Kilgore, marking the greatest concentration of oil wells in the history of the world. Dozens of these derricks still dot city's internationally famous skyline. Since 1930, the East Texas oil field has produced nearly four billion barrels of oil. It now has more than 17,000 producing wells, and geologists predict a future of at least 45 years for this "granddaddy of oil fields." Its development has attracted to the area many diversified industries and a progressive citizenship with a high degree of civic pride. (1966)

Historical Marker →

East Texas Oil Field

1930

The discovery of the East Texas Oil Field in 1930 was the largest oil find in American history at the time, producing over 5 billion barrels and transforming Kilgore, Henderson, and Longview.

Historical Marker →

Cliburn, Harvey Lavan, Jr. [Van]

1958

Van Cliburn, one of the most prominent American concert pianists of the twentieth century, was born Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr., on July 12, 1934, in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1941 his father, Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Sr., relocated their family to Kilgore, Texas, to work in the exploding East Texas oil industry . His mother, Rildia Bee (O'Bryan) Cliburn , was a gifted pianist-she had studied in Manhattan with Arthur Friedheim, a student of Franz Liszt and Anton Rubinstein-and gave lessons from their home. His mother recognized her son's prodigious aptitude for the keyboard after the three-year-old "Van" imitated a student's performance of Caroline Crawford's Arpeggio Waltz. She immediately began instructing him, and within a short time, he performed at Dodd College in Shreveport. Cliburn quickly achieved a reputation as a musical wunderkind , and he performed widely during his adolescent years in East Texas. In addition to the lessons he received from his mother, he was also able to hear performances by-and meet-legendary concert pianists José Iturbi and Arthur Rubinstein in Kilgore and Dallas. At the age of thirteen, after winning a contest, he played in Carnegie Hall alongside other talented young pianists. Once he graduated from Kilgore High School in 1951, Cliburn entered the renowned Juilliard School of Music, where he studied with Rosina Lhévinne, a distinguished representative of the Russian school of piano expression and technique. During the 1950s he was a rising piano star; he performed across the United States, won a number of prestigious awards, and his hometown of Kilgore declared April 8, 1953, as "Van Cliburn Day." His extraordinary success in piano competitions included first prize in the 1954 Leventritt Competition. Consequently Van Cliburn debuted with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and became, at age twenty, a Steinway artist. He graduated from Juilliard in 1955 and around that time signed on with Columbia Artist Management. Cliburn's most significant achievement, however, came on April 11, 1958, when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Upon the completion of his final performance (he performed Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto) for the competition, the audience gave him a standing ovation and cheered for more than eight minutes; the judges allowed Cliburn to take a second bow. The Texan pianist's success at the competition was a landmark in the "Thaw," a period of considerable reform in the Soviet Union and the relaxation of tension between the Cold War superpowers. Culture-from music to art to film-was an important part of the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the post- World War II era. Allowing an American to win such an important music competition in the Soviet Union demonstrated Nikita Khrushchev's willingness to break with the extreme censorship and cultural control of Joseph Stalin, his predecessor. For citizens of the United States, it was a major cultural victory, especially after the Soviets' recent launch of Sputnik into space. Cliburn's win was an international media sensation, and he was greeted with a ticker tape parade in New York City when he returned. He was featured on the cover of the May 19, 1958, issue of Time magazine as "The Texan Who Conquered Russia." Cliburn, however, did not see himself as a "conqueror" and, upon his return to the United States, published a statement, "There are no political barriers to music. The same blood running through Americans also runs through the Soviet people and compels us to create and enjoy the same art...." From the late 1950s until the mid-1970s, Cliburn was a major force in classical music across the globe. He studied conducting with Bruno Walter, toured across the world and for the U. S. State Department, and his 1958 RCA recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 was the first classical recording to sell a million copies and go platinum. It also earned a Grammy for Best Clas

Tsha Handbook →

Davis, Gussie Nell

1940

Gussie Nell Davis, founder of the Kilgore Rangerettes (and therefore of the world-wide dance-drill team movement), daughter of Robert Augustus and Mattie Lavinia (Callaway) Davis, was born in Farmersville, Texas, on November 4, 1906. She attended public schools in Farmersville and, with the intention of becoming a concert pianist, entered the College of Industrial Arts (now Texas Woman's University), Denton, in 1923. She changed her major study to physical education and received a B.A. degree from CIA in 1927 and a M.A. from the University of Southern California in 1938. Miss Davis began her professional career as instructor of physical education and pep-squad director at Greenville High School in 1928. Drawing on her combined experience in music, dance, and physical education, she trained the all-girl "Flaming Flashes" to use small wooden batons that she commissioned from a local furniture maker, as well as flags, various props, drums, and bugles in increasingly complex dance-drills and marches. Although there were several female drum and bugle corps or pep squads performing at football games, the Flaming Flashes were the first twirl-and-dance group. In 1939 when Davis was asked by B. E. Masters, president of Kilgore College, to "find a way to keep people in their seats at halftime" without using drums or bugles, she organized the Kilgore Rangerettes, a precision dance-drill team that performed for the first time in 1940. With the assistance of choreographer Denard Hayden, accompanist Hazel Stewart, long-time sponsor L. N. Crim, and assistants Peggy Coghlan, Barbara Harmon, and Deana Bolton, Miss Davis directed the Rangerettes until her retirement in 1979. The Rangerettes performed for the Lions International Convention in 1940 and gave their first bowl-game appearance at the Little Rose Bowl in 1946. Subsequently, their performances at college and professional games, conventions, and other events have included the Cotton Bowl (annual since 1949, except for 1950), the Sugar Bowl (1950), the All-Star Game (1951-55), President Dwight D. Eisenhower 's Inauguration (1953), the International Rotary Convention (1959), the Pecan Bowl (1966), the Shrine Bowl (1966), Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1967-69), the National Convention of Chambers of Commerce of Venezuela (1973), the American Fortnight in Hong Kong (1975), various engagements in Romania (1977), and the annual Rangerette Revels (since 1943). The Rangerettes have been cover girls on numerous publications, including Esquire (October 1950), Look (August 4, 1959), Saturday Evening Post (October 5, 1963), Life (numerous times), and Newsweek (December 12, 1977). They have been the subject of articles in such diverse publications as the American Weekly (November 22, 1953), the Paris Match (February 29, 1964), Family Weekly (December 27, 1964), Southern Living (January 1967), Sports Illustrated (December 16, 1974), Texas Star (November 14, 1971), Texas Woman (February 1979), and Texas Highways (January 1981). They have appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show" (1952) and "60 Minutes" (1971), and in such movies as Cinerama's Seven Wonders of the World (1956). All-American and sportscaster Red Grange dubbed the Rangerettes "Sweethearts of the Nation's Gridirons" (1950). The Ice Capades designed a 1973 show around the young women, who wear white Western hats, belts, and boots, red tops, and "flippy" blue skirts, all parts of a copyrighted costume. The Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston spotlighted the group in 1977 as a "living art form." With Irving Dreibrodt, retired director of the SMU Mustang Band, Davis founded American Drill Team Schools, Incorporated, which has provided instruction for drill teams across the United States. In addition to serving on the Kilgore College Staff (1939-79), Davis was a consultant to drill teams, a judge of drill-team competitions, a member of the National Drill Team Directors Association and Rangerettes Forever, and a member of the board of directors of F

Tsha Handbook →

Kilgore - Forest of Derricks

1930

During the East Texas oil boom, Kilgore had over 1,100 oil derricks within city limits, including 24 on a single acre of downtown that became known as the World's Richest Acre.

Historical Marker →

Kilgore Rangerettes

1940

The Kilgore Rangerettes, the first women's precision drill team in the world, began in 1940 under the direction of Gussie Nell Davis , a physical-education teacher. The team was originally organized at the behest of Kilgore College president B. E. Masters to recruit more female students, to provide half-time shows during the football season, and to promote physical activities for women equal to men's. Masters brought Davis, who had established the "Flaming Flashes," a high school girls' drum and bugle corps in Greenville in 1928, to Kilgore and gave her a free hand in setting up the team. She quickly enlisted the help of local oil millionaire Liggett Crim to pay for the Rangerettes' initial costs. The group became popular locally after its debut at a football game in September 1940. Its fame promptly spread outside Kilgore, and within a year the Rangerettes had traveled to New Orleans to represent the region's oil business at the Lions International convention. The Rangerettes began appearing throughout East Texas in "bond shows" in support of the war effort. They have continued to perform for the college and have also participated in many other athletic and special events, such as the Cotton Bowl game, the International Tennis Stars Exhibition, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the American Bar Association Convention. Since the 1970s they have taken six world tours, to South America, the Far East, Romania, France, Canada, and Japan. Members of the troupe are selected each August at a two-week tryout camp, during which as many as 150 applicants vie for some thirty openings. Normally sixty-five students make up the team, but only forty-eight members actually perform at one time. Known for well-choreographed routines, including its trademark high kick, the troupe thrived under the direction of Gussie Davis for almost four decades, until her retirement in 1979. She was responsible for turning the Rangerettes into a company that executed perfect routines by holding to the concept that the Rangerettes "don't make mistakes." The Rangerettes have historically been identified with one costume, made up of a blouse, arm gauntlets, a belt, and a short circular skirt, in red, white, and blue. A white hat and boots complete the Rangerette look. The costume has remained unchanged, except for a slight shortening of the skirt length. Since the Kilgore Rangerettes became so popular, all-female drill teams have proliferated throughout the state, with 15,000 high school students and 1,000 college students participating annually. Nationwide, the Rangerettes' legacy has garnered the involvement of some 75,000 high school drill team members. To underscore the significance of the Kilgore Rangerettes, Kilgore College opened a Rangerette Showcase on its campus in 1979. The exhibit, housed in the college's physical education building, features costumes, props, and other memorabilia. A sixty-seat theater in the building provides films and slide shows on Rangerette performances.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Kilgore

historical
Kilgore, Texas (c. 1939, Russell Lee)
day trip
Day Trip to Kilgore 🛢️ (FULL EPISODE) S13 E6

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Everything Near Kilgore

294 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Kilgore on the Map
All music from Texas → · Browse more cities