Kilgore, Texas: A Historical Overview of the Rural Community
Published: September 25, 2007
Kilgore is a rural community located off Farm Road 622 about nine miles northeast of Goliad in northeastern Goliad County. A German farming settlement was established in the region by the 1880s and was probably named after nearby Kilgore Creek, which was named for the original land grant owner. Early settlers included the Angerstein, Dreier, Franke, Gebbert, Hartmann, and Schulze families. Community life centered around St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Residents built a one-room school in 1881, and a Mr. Sartorious served as the first teacher. In the early 1900s the school operated as its own common school district and served seventy-five students in 1919. County highway maps in the 1930s showed the school, church, and scattered farms in the area just west of Fannin Oil Field. By 1944 common school districts in the county were consolidated with the Goliad school district, and the school at Kilgore closed. St. Paul's Lutheran Church closed in 1950. In 1970 the farming community had a population of 150. By 1990 that number had dropped to 120. By 2000 Kilgore was part of a census-designated region in northern and northeastern Goliad County that included the communities of Ander and Weser (see ANDER-WESER-KILGORE). The community and its cemetery were still shown on highway maps.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Laurie E. Jasinski, “Kilgore, TX (Goliad County),” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/kilgore-tx-goliad-county.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
HLK23
- September 25, 2007
