Gladewater, Texas

Gladewater is a city in Gregg and Upshur counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 6,441 at the 2010 census. U.S. Route 80 traverses the city.

The town is probably most famous as a base during Elvis Presley's early career , and also as the town in which Johnny Cash wrote "I Walk the Line". In the early 20th century, Gladewater was an oil boom town. Gladewater is known as the "Antique Capital of East Texas" with its Main Street downtown antique district.

Geography

It is located at 32°32′34″N 94°56′49″W / 32.54278°N 94.94694°W / 32.54278; -94.94694 (32.542666, -94.946950), primarily within Gregg County.

According to the United States Census Bureau the city has a total area of 12.1 square miles (31.4 km²), of which 11.6 square miles (30.1 km²) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.4 km²) (4.37%) is water.

History

Gladewater is at the intersection of U.S. highways 80 and 271, thirteen miles (19 km) west of Longview on the boundary between Gregg and Upshur counties. It was founded by the Texas and Pacific Railway Company in 1873 on land bought from Jarrett Dean and Anderson White. A community called St. Clair, two miles (3 km) to the east, moved to Gladewater when the railroad announced that the only mail stop in the area would be there; residents from Point Pleasant, also bypassed by the railroad, moved to Gladewater. The first post office at Gladewater was established on August 22, 1873. The town's name probably originated from its proximity to Glade Creek, a stream that rose in a rather barren region called the Glades.