31°52′N94°55′W / 31.867°N 94.917°W /31.867; -94.917
East Texas | |
|---|---|
.jpg) .jpg) .jpg)    From top to bottom, left to right:Downtown Kilgore, DowntownTyler;Paris;Kayaking inCaddo Lake;Dirt biking in thePiney woods; Commercial Historic District and DowntownBeaumont | |
| Nickname: | |
 East Texas counties in red; the inclusion of pink and red counties varies from source to source, thus may or may not be included in East Texas | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Texas |
| Counties | Anderson Angelina Bowie Camp Cass Cherokee Delta Franklin Gregg Hardin Harrison Henderson Hopkins Houston Hunt Jasper Jefferson Lamar Marion Morris Nacogdoches Newton Orange Panola Polk Rains Red River Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto Shelby Smith Titus Trinity Tyler Upshur Van Zandt Wood[1] |
| Largest city | Tyler[3] |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 1,918,628[1] |
East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecologicalregion in the eastern part of theU.S. state ofTexas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided intoNortheast,Southeast, and Deep East Texas. Most of the region consists of thePiney Woodsecoregion. East Texas can sometimes be defined only as the Piney Woods.[1] At the fringes, towardsCentral Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.
According to theHandbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from theRed River in north-centralLamar County southwestward to east-centralLimestone County and then southeastward towards eastern Galveston Bay". Most sources separate the Gulf Coast area into a separate region.[4]
The East Texas region includesKilgore,Tyler,Longview,Texarkana,Lufkin,Marshall,Palestine,Henderson,Jacksonville,Mount Pleasant, andNacogdoches as principal cities in addition to, in its expanded definition,Greenville,Houston, andBeaumont metropolitan statistical areas.
Climate is the unifying factor in the region's geography; all of East Texas has thehumid subtropical climate typical of the Southeast, occasionally interrupted by intrusions of cold air from the north. East Texas receives more rainfall, 35 to 60 inches (890 to 1,520 mm), than the rest of Texas.[5] In Houston, the average January temperature is 50.4 °F (10.2 °C) and the average July temperature is 82.6 °F (28.1 °C). However, Houston has slightly warmer winters than most of East Texas due to its lowerlatitude and proximity to the coast.
All of East Texas lies within theGulf Coastal Plain. It has less uniformity of climate than therolling hills in the north and flatcoastal plains in the south. Local vegetation varies from north to south, with the lower third consisting of thetemperate grassland extending fromSouth Texas toSouth Louisiana and the northern two-thirds of the region dominated by thetemperate forest known as thePiney Woods. These extend more than 23,500 square miles (61,000 km2). The Piney Woods are part of a much larger region ofpine-hardwood forest that extends intoLouisiana, Arkansas, andOklahoma. The Piney Woods area thins out as it nears the Gulf of Mexico. West of the Piney Woods are the ranchlands and remnant oak forests of theEast Central Texas forests ecoregion.
TheSabine,Trinity,Neches,Angelina andSulphur rivers are the major rivers in East Texas, but theBrazos andRed rivers also flow through the region. The Brazos cuts through the southwest portion of the region, while the Red River forms its northern border with Oklahoma and a portion of Arkansas. In East Texas and the rest of the South, small rivers and creeks collect into swamps calledbayous and merge with the surrounding forest.Bald cypress andSpanish moss are the dominant plants in bayous. The most famous of these bayous areCypress Bayou andBuffalo Bayou. Cypress Bayou surrounds the Big, Little, and Black Cypress rivers around Jefferson. They flow east intoCaddo Lake, and the adjoining wetlands cover the rim and islands of the lake.
Deep East Texas is a subregion of East Texas, alongside Northeast and Southeast Texas. According to theDeep East Texas Council of Governments, the region consists of the following twelve counties:Angelina,Houston,Jasper,Nacogdoches,Newton,Polk,Sabine,San Augustine,San Jacinto,Shelby,Trinity, andTyler.
The "Deep" designation comes from the similarity to East Texas (it is similar in culture andtopography, being highly forested), but with a location "deeper" (i.e., farther south and towards theGulf Coast) than the rest of East Texas.
"Deep" also refers to the cultural and social characteristics of the area. This is considered synonymous to the "Big Thicket", an allusion to the dense growth ofunderbrush in the Piney Woods. It was the earliest area of Texas to be settled byAnglo-Americans from the United States (and one of the last areas to submit to law enforcement—by the governments ofNew Spain,Mexico, theRepublic of Texas, thestate of Texas, or the United States). Well into the first quarter of the 20th century, renegadeclans controlled local governments, especially inShelby County.
The area contains two of the oldest towns in Texas; Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, dating from the 18th century,[6] and San Augustine, the oldest "British-American" settlement in Texas, dating from the 1820s. People ofEnglish,Scottish,Scots-Irish, and to a lesser extentWelsh ancestry predominate in this region, because of the history of settlement. This is in contrast toWest Texas and South Central Texas, where people ofHispanic andGerman ancestry predominate, respectively. Hispanic settlers are descended from colonists of New Spain, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Most of the German immigrant ancestors in Central Texas arrived after theRevolutions of 1848.
TheSpanish and later Mexican governments did not want settlers from the United States until after Mexico had gained independence. East Texas had been barely settled by Spanish and Mexican colonists, and the government decided to allow immigration from the US to bolster defenses against raiding by the Apache and Comanche. Neither government was able to exert much control or law enforcement in the area.[7] As a consequence, the "Big Thicket" became a refuge for criminals fleeing the United States and hiding out in a "no man's land" in thepine tree thickets.
The early isolation of the region and its links to the Deep South have resulted in thepiney woods being described as a 'curtain' that demarcates a certain cultural enclave or bubble that distinguishes East Texas from the rest of the state. Former residents describe living behind the 'Pine Curtain' as a form of escape. The phrase is often used to describe the area; it appeared in a newspaper column in thePalestine Herald-Press, and in a late 20th-century tourist guide by Mike Dougan.[8][9]
.jpg)
East Texas consists of approximately 38 counties which collaborate in sub-regionalArk-Tex Council of Governments, theEast Texas Council of Governments, theDeep East Texas Council of Governments, and theSouth East Texas Regional Planning Commission, with other counties sometimes included in varying sources.
Counties generally included areAnderson,Angelina,Bowie,Camp,Cass,Cherokee,Delta,Franklin,Gregg,Hardin,Harrison,Henderson,Hopkins,Houston,Jasper,Jefferson,Lamar,Marion,Morris,Nacogdoches,Newton,Orange,Panola,Polk,Rains,Red River,Rusk,Sabine,San Augustine,San Jacinto,Shelby,Smith,Titus,Trinity,Tyler,Upshur,Van Zandt, andWood County, Texas.[1]
Hunt andFannin Counties, in proximity toDallas, are sometimes included as part of East Texas in varying sources as part of Northeast Texas,[10] whileChambers,Liberty, andWalker Counties, in proximity to the city ofHouston, are sometimes included as part of Southeast Texas.[11]
According to the2020 U.S. census, these 38 East Texas counties had a total population of 1,918,628 residents.[1] Of the 38 counties, the average population density is around 69.6 people per mi2,[1] with the population density near theBig Thicket dropping below 18 people per mi2.Southeast Texas's population is centered around theGolden Triangle ofBeaumont/Port Arthur/Orange. Moving north from the coast,Lufkin andNacogdoches anchor the population center ofDeep East Texas. Continuing north from Deep East Texas,Tyler,Longview, andMarshall inNortheast Texas, along withTexarkana on the far northeastern border withArkansas, represent the major population centers in the northern section of East Texas. Eight miles from the Texas border,Shreveport, Louisiana, is considered the economic and cultural center for theArk-La-Tex, the area where Arkansas, Louisiana, and East Texas meet.
Per the 2023 census estimates, the five most populous counties were:
Per the 2022 census estimates, the ten most populous East Texas cities outside of Houston's metro area were:
In 2020, the population of East Texas counties was 61.8%non-Hispanic white, 16.4%Hispanic or Latino American, 16.3%African American, and 4.2% other (including Native American and Asian). East Texas's most ethnically and racially diverse county was Jefferson County, its largest county.
East Texas is within theBlack Belt region, the fertile area that was the center of cotton culture and enslaved African-American labor.[12][13] Relative to other regions of Texas, East Texas formerly had the highest percentage of Black population in the state.[14]
Unlike Texas's total state racial demographics, only two counties in East Texas outside ofGreater Houston's sphere had amajority minority. In 2020, Jefferson County in the Golden Triangle had non-Hispanic white as 37.44% as their largest racial or ethnic group andTitus County had a 43.78% Hispanic or Latino population as their largest racial or ethnic group.[15] East Texas andSoutheast Texas in particular, which had been areas with cotton plantations before the Civil War, have a significant African-American population, ranging to nearly 20% in some counties.
East Texas is home toEast Texas Regional Airport andTyler Pounds Regional Airport.
East Texas Election Results (Only Dark Red Counties Included plus Jefferson and Orange)
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Third parties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 23.4%196,703 | 75.8%636,994 | 0.8%6,651 |
| 2020 | 26.1%218,265' | 72.8%608,479 | 1.1%9,410 |
| 2016 | 25.2%182,891 | 72.0%522,891 | 2.8%20,413 |
| 2012 | 28.9%199,204 | 71.1%490,905 | 0%0 |
| 2008 | 31.9%226,287 | 67.1%476,238 | 1.0%7,008 |
| 2004 | 34.1%236,860 | 65.9%457,323 | 0%0 |
| 2000 | 37.4%231,128 | 62.6%387,258 | 0%0 |
| 1996 | 45.0%261,012 | 46.8%271,859 | 8.2%47,565 |
East Texas is often considered the westernmost extension of theDeep South. The predominant cultural influence comes from customs and traditions passed down from European American and African American Southerners who settled the region during the mid-to-late 19th century.[7] African Americans were first brought to the area as enslaved workers to develop and cultivate commodity crops on plantations. Harrison County had the most plantations and highest number of slaves in the antebellum period.[17] Deep South accent influences are noticeable in the subdialect ofTexan English that is spoken throughout the region. According to the most recent linguistic studies, East Texans tend to pronounceSouthern English with the drawl typical of theLower South. Other parts of Texas are more apt to use the "twang" of theUpper South, or—depending upon demographic influences of the particular area—with someHispanic andMidwestern traits.
East Texas lacks the strong influence of late 19th-and early 20th-century European immigrants from Germany and central Europe. Similarly, the new waves of immigrants since the late 20th century, primarily fromIndia, otherAsian nations, andLatin America, and their influences, have been less prevalent in East Texas compared to other Texas regions.
East Texans are predominantlyProtestantChristians. They are members of manydenominations as part of theBible Belt.[18][19] The most numerous Christian adherents have included the Baptists, particularly theSouthern Baptist Convention (majority white) andNational Baptist Convention USA (majority black, formed after the Civil War);[20]Methodists andPresbyterians;Lutherans andclassical Pentecostals;[21][22] and others.
Roman Catholicism continues to have influence, particularly given the increased Hispanic or Latino American population in recent decades. The largest Catholic jurisdictions in the region has been theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Southeast Texas, and theRoman Catholic Diocese of Tyler in the northeastern subregion.
Other religious faiths with smaller numbers, but with adherents in East Texas, includeMormonism andJudaism.[23][24]
Significant numbers of people ofCajun andCreole descent have migrated fromLouisiana, although most areassimilated partially or completely into East Texas culture (adopting the local culture, and losing to varying degrees, their original culture).[25] This assimilation pattern has often historically included conversion from Roman Catholicism, associated with French and Spanish traditions, to Protestant denominations.
United States settlers from the Protestant Southeast practiced some discrimination against Cajun and Creole migrants, a cultural attitude that persisted until quite recently. Despite the tendency toward assimilation, Cajun and Creole cuisine (for example,jambalaya andcatfishgumbo), are popular in the region. Many East Texans, including those without Louisiana roots, are known to be expert at preparing at least some well-known Louisiana dishes.
While some East Texans associate withcowboy culture, most identify more with smaller scale farming of the Southern U.S., than with the expansivecattleranching of the plains regions of Texas. But East Texans commonly own and trade cattle. Several "sale barns" exist across East Texas, with weekly and monthly trades, as is common in other parts of the Deep South.
In the northern part of East Texas, awareness of the native and historicalCaddoMississippian culture remains.Cherokee County is home to theCaddo Mounds State Historic Site. Patrons can also view the "Caddo Indian Collection" at the Gregg County Historical Museum inLongview. In the mid-1800s, East Texas cities such asMarshall andJefferson constituted a sphere of influence that led the entire state into theConfederacy. East Texas had powerful planters and the most significant numbers of slaveholders.
Before that, during theMexican andRepublic periods, Nacogdoches andSan Augustine were the most developed and influential cities in East Texas. Many East Texans have a mixture of European and Native American ancestry, as seen in East Texan country artistMiranda Lambert. The Museum of East Texas opened in Lufkin in 1976 under the name Lufkin Historical and Creative Arts Center.[26]
East Texas is home to theTexas Country Music Hall of Fame, located inCarthage. East Texans enjoy a range of music that is influenced bygospel,bluegrass,blues,rock,country,soul,rhythm and blues,Cajun, etc.Texas blues originated in East Texas, with many legends having been born in the region, includingLightnin' Hopkins andT-Bone Walker. East Texans enjoy live music at many of the region's fairs and festivals, including theTexas Rose Festival inTyler, the East Texas Yamboree inGilmer, andLongview'sGreat Texas Balloon Race.
East Texas also has many venues included in what is commonly referred to as the Texas country music circuit, although the majority of such venues are located in Central/South/West Texas and themetropolitan areas of the state.
Many notable music artists have East Texas roots, including:George Jones (Saratoga),Miranda Lambert (Lindale),Kacey Musgraves (Mineola),Jamie Foxx, (Terrell),Neal McCoy (Longview andJacksonville),Lee Ann Womack (Jacksonville),Janis Joplin (Port Arthur),UGK (Port Arthur),Don Henley (Linden),Ray Price (Perryville),Johnny Horton (Rusk),Johnny Mathis (Gilmer),Tex Ritter (Panola County),Jim Reeves (Panola County),Mark Chesnutt (Beaumont),Tracy Byrd (Vidor),Clay Walker (Beaumont),T-Bone Walker (Linden),Chris Tomlin (Grand Saline), andMichelle Shocked (Gilmer), among many others.
Worldwide-acclaimed pianistVan Cliburn, a native of nearbyShreveport, Louisiana, was raised inKilgore.Kilgore College houses the Van Cliburn Auditorium on its home campus.
Many high-school bands in East Texas continue the tradition of military-style marching, unlike other parts of the state. These bands compete in the National Association Of Military Marching Bands.
.jpg)
As with other parts of Texas,high school football is the most popular local sport venue in East Texas. Residents of East Texas towns and rural communities fill high-school stadiums in support of their local teams, cheerleaders, bands, etc. Many East Texas high-school teams have won Texas state championships, along with producing many collegiate andprofessional football players.
Earl Campbell, the "Tyler Rose", played football forJohn Tyler High in Tyler before playing for theTexas Longhorns and theHouston Oilers.[27]Don Meredith, who famously played for theDallas Cowboys, played at Mt. Vernon.[28]Dez Bryant, a football player from Lufkin, formerly played wide receiver for theDallas Cowboys before signing with theNew Orleans Saints (then getting injured three days afterwards).Adrian Peterson, a star running back for theMinnesota Vikings, played high-school football inPalestine. Many other high-school sports are popular in East Texas, includingbasketball,baseball,volleyball,softball, andtrack.
A significant number of East Texan youths participate inLittle League Baseball,soccer, andsoftball. Church leagues are quite common in providing opportunities forbasketball and softball for youth and adults alike. In recent years,cowboy churches have grown in number and offerrodeo events for their youth.
East Texans also enjoy collegiate athletic competition. Most residents support collegiate teams located in other regions of the state; theTexas A&M Aggies,Texas Longhorns,Texas Tech Red Raiders,Baylor Bears,TCU Horned Frogs,Houston Cougars, etc. Due to proximity to neighboring states, East Texas has a substantial number of fans of theLSU Tigers,Arkansas Razorbacks,Oklahoma State Cowboys, andOklahoma Sooners. TheBattle of the Piney Woods has historically been a fiercely contested sports rivalry between theBearkats ofSam Houston State University in Huntsville and theLumberjacks ofStephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches.[29] Both schools long competed as members of the NCAA Division ISouthland Conference (SLC), which plays football at theFCS level, but they moved to theWestern Athletic Conference (WAC) in2021, while Sam Houston moved toFBS and joinedConference USA in July 2023. TheCardinals ofLamar University in Beaumont left the SLC for the WAC alongside Sam Houston and SFA, but rejoined the SLC a year later.East Texas A&M University joined the SLC in 2022.
Other universities and colleges that field athletic teams in East Texas includeEast Texas Baptist University Tigers in Marshall;University of Texas at Tyler Patriots in Tyler;LeTourneau University Yellowjackets in Longview; and several junior colleges throughout the region, which participate in theSouthwest Junior College Conference in Region XIV of the NJCAA. East Texas is also home to theKilgore College Rangerettes, a world-famous dance team that debuted in 1939.[30]
A few professional sports teams are located in the traditionally defined East Texas. The East Texas Pump Jacks, located inKilgore, play baseball in theTexas Collegiate League. Additionally, the East Texas Storm, a semiprofessional football team located in Tyler, competes in the Lone Star Minor League.[31] Typically, northern parts of East Texas tend to support the professional teams from the Dallas/Fort Worth area inNorth Texas (Dallas Cowboys,Dallas Mavericks,Texas Rangers,Dallas Stars,FC Dallas), while southern parts of East Texas tend to support professional teams from the Houston area in Southeast Texas (Houston Texans,Houston Rockets,Houston Astros,Houston Dynamo FC).
As with other parts of Texas and/or the Southern U.S., other popular sporting activities in East Texas includerodeo (including PRCA),hunting, andfishing. Prominent rodeos in East Texas are held in Beaumont, Nacogdoches, Paris, Longview,Gladewater, Huntsville, Lufkin,Athens, Palestine, Lindale, etc. East Texas contains several award-winning lakes for sport fishing, includingToledo Bend Reservoir,Lake Sam Rayburn, Lake Livingston,Lake Fork Reservoir,Lake Tawakoni, etc.
East Texas also contains numerousgolf courses and avid golfers, as well asNASCAR fans. However, the region does not host professional events in either of those sports. The nearest NASCAR track to East Texas isTexas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
East Texans enjoy manyTexas state parks, includingCaddo Lake,Atlanta,Daingerfield,Lake Bob Sandlin,Tyler,Mission Tejas in Grapeland,Cooper Lake,Lake Tawakoni,Martin Creek,Huntsville,Lake Sam Rayburn,Lake Livingston andSea Rim among others. East Texas is also home to theAngelina National Forest,Davy Crockett National Forest,Sam Houston National Forest,Sabine National Forest,Big Thicket National Preserve,Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge,Jocelyn Nungaray National Wildlife Refuge, andMcFaddin National Wildlife Refuge.
Historically, the East Texas economy has been led bylumber,cotton,cattle, andoil. Prior to the discovery of theEast Texas Oil Field, cotton, lumber and cattle were the predominant source of economic growth and stability. The needs of local farmers contributed greatly to the establishment of local towns and trading posts. As with many parts of the nation, the chosen paths of railroads often determined the continuation of many towns. At the beginning of the 20th century, the oil fields were discovered and oil became accessible, changing the future of the region.
In the decades leading to the new millennium, crude oil production in the East Texas Oil Field, the largest oil field in the United States, somewhat decreased. In turn, the number of high-paying jobs for uneducated workers also decreased. During the 20th century, local groceries, general stores, and cafes were replaced with franchise department stores, retail chains, and fast-food restaurants. Due to the decline of oil production, many small towns closed cafés and gas stations, some of which were replaced with cash loan shops and pawn shops.[32] In 2022, East Texas was highlighted for its diversifying economy penetrating Deep East Texas with the decline in crude oil.[33] Additionally, the region has become home to many patent-holding companies, due to its legal system being particularly friendly to patent holders and hostile to out-of-state tech defendants.[34] In 2009, Paul Knight of theHouston Press stated in an article, "some saynatural gas has surpassedcrude as king in East Texas."[35]
Tourism has not been a highly significant source of economic activity in the majority of East Texas, although several high-traffic corridors pass through East Texas, which have aided economic development along those routes. These include:Interstate 30 (from Dallas through Texarkana),Interstate 20 (through Dallas and on throughShreveport),Interstate 10 (through Houston and Beaumont into Louisiana),Interstate 45 (through Houston and Dallas), andU.S. Highway 59 (through Houston and north past Texarkana; in process of being upgraded along most of the route toInterstate 69).
East Texas is one of the most economically disadvantaged regions in the state. In 2021 the poverty rate in the greater northeast Texas area (Anderson, Bowie, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Delta, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Henderson, Hopkins, Lamar, Marion, Morris, Panola, Rains, Red River, Rusk, Smith, Titus, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood counties) was 16%, higher than both the state rate, 14.7%, and the national rate at 13.4%. In the same year 13.4% of households received Food Stamps or SNAP compared to 11.8% across Texas, and 11.7% nationwide. As of January 2022. The average wage in the region was also lower than the state and national average at $45,027, which were $62,289 and $64,555 respectively.[36]
| By period | |
|---|---|
| By topic | |
| Bycity | |
| Government agency | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
