Welcome to the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce

As a quiet rural community in the fall of 1930, Kilgore suddenly saw its name emblazoned across Texas after discovery of oil in and around the city. Near the heart of the East Texas oilfield, the largest in the lower 48 states. Kilgore at one time boasted a single downtown city block with the densest concentration of oil derricks in the world. In late summer 1931, as tumultuous conditions persisted in the burgeoning new “boomtown,” the state sent a star of its own, legendary Texas Ranger Manuel T. (Lone Wolf) Gonzaullas, to help restore order. And during World War II, oil from East Texas field literally helped “fuel” the efforts of the Allies. More than 80 oil derricks dot the Kilgore skyline today, all topped with lighted stars as reminders that our country’s Stars and Stripes waves free, due in large part to the contribution East Texas oil made to victory for our Allies.

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