Liberty City

KLTV's feature on the community says its past names included Sabine, Mount Moriah, McCrary's Chapel, Goforth and Hog Eye, and that the 1930s oil boom prompted the change to Liberty City. It gives two possible origins for Hog Eye: a local hog thief or a popular fiddler's tune. It also says the postmaster wanted to call the post office Sabine, but another post office already had that name, so he chose Hog Eye. The town sits just north of Kilgore on Interstate 20.

What the plaque says

Liberty City Historic rural community in oil-rich Gregg County. Settled before Civil War. Has also been known as Sabine, Mount Moriah, McCrary's Chapel, Goforth and Hog Eye (for an early settler with an "eye" for hogs). Present name adopted in early days of famous East Texas oil boom. Area served by Sabine School district, established 1893; an example of excellent schools in county. Also crossed by great system of improved, all weather county roads-- finest in state. Center of farming, livestock raising. Has fine churches, park and community meeting places. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• East Texas Oil Museum — 6.7 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 14 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 19 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Tyler State Park — 20 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.

More markers nearby

• Kilgore Colored and C. B. Dansby Schools — 5.4 mi
• New Hope Missionary Baptist Church — 5.7 mi
• Kilgore High School — 5.8 mi
• Lou Della Crim Home — 5.9 mi