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Waskom Texas
 Waskom, Texas City Hall |
The City of Waskom, known as “The Gateway to Texas”, is located on the eastern edge of Harrison County on Interstate Highway I-20.
The city situated near the Louisiana state line and the Union Pacific Railway at the intersection of Farm Roads 134 and 9, U.S. Highway 80, and Interstate Highway 20. It is 18 miles southeast of Marshall, 23 miles west of Shreveport, and 165 miles east of Dallas.
The Waskom Zip Code is 75692, and its Area Code is 903. For more information, visit the official website of the City of Waskom.
The Waskom City Hall is located at 450 W. Texas Avenue; its Mailing Address is P. O. Box 730, Waskom, TX 75692.
 The Waskom-Taylor City Park (photo courtesy of the City of Waskom) |
Waskom Information & Resources
- City of Waskom
- Waskom Chamber of Commerce
- Waskom Volunteer Fire Department
- Waskom Independent School District
- Waskom Public Library
- Texas Travel Information Center on I-20 West at Waskom
Area Tourism and Attractions
Waskom is home for over 1,900 residents that enjoy living and raising their family in a small town. It features 9-acre Waskom-Taylor City Park with tennis courts, volleyball courts and the city fishing pond.
Be sure to visit the Market at the Mural in Waskom, and the T.C. Lindsey & Co. General Store just to the north in Jonesville, Texas.
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T.C. Lindsey & Company Traveler reviews and photos at TripAdvisor |
Beautiful Caddo Lake and State Park is about a 30 minute drive north on FM9, where visitors can enjoy fishing, camping, boating and skiing.
Waskom also features several restaurants where visitors can enjoy some of the best eating in East Texas! Popular dining spots include David Beard's Catfish Village, Jim's Bar-B-Que and others.
Map of U.S. Highway 80 from the Texas-Louisiana state line near Waskom to Dallas showing the location of Waskom |
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While visiting the Waskom area, you may want to take interesting day trips in several directions:
- Jefferson - antiques, Jay Gould's railroad car, Jefferson Carnegie Library, steam train rides, steamboats on Caddo Lake, B&Bs
- Gladewater - antique capitol of East Texas, Gusher Days, Roundup Rodeo, Helen Lee Daffodil Gardens
- Gilmer - East Texas Yamboree, Historic Upshur Museum, Lake Gilmer
- Kilgore - home of the East Texas Oil Museum and Kilgore College
- Joinerville Texas - Daisy Bradford oil discovery monuments and Great East Texas Oilfield markers, Gaston Museum
- Longview - Gregg County Fair & Exposition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, R.G. LeTourneau Museum, Great Texas Balloon Race, historic buildings, shopping, restaurants
- Marshall - Michelson Museum of Art, Starr Family home State Historic Park, Harrison County Historical Museum, Ginocchio Hotel, T&P Railroad Museum, Christmas Wonderland of Lights
- Carthage - Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, East Texas Oil & Gas Blast, Piney Woods Quilt Festival Rode Jamboree
- Henderson - Heritage Syrup Festival, Howard Dickinson House Museum, Depot Museum, antique shopping, Historic Downtown Square
Texas Travel Information Center at Waskom
 The Texas Travel Information Center at Waskom (photo courtesy of TxDOT) |
The Texas Department of Transportation operates a Texas Travel Information Center at Waskom, on I-20 West at Milepost 634.
The facility is open 24 hours a day, and features an air conditioned lobby and restrooms, group picnic facility, handicap accessibility, interpretive displays, vending machines, weather information, wireless Internet access and more.
Professional travel counselors are available during the day to assist travelers with travel plans and road conditions.
For more information, visit the website of the Texas Travel Information Center at Waskom
Waskom History
The community was founded around 1850 as Powell Town, named after Jonathan S. Powell, who owned a land grant in the area. It had a post office as Powellton from 1850 to 1872. The town was the midway point of a Dallas to Shreveport cattle and cotton economic travelway connecting to the Red River in Louisiana, 20 miles to the east.
In 1872, it became a main railroad station between Dallas to the west, Shreveport to east, and Texarkana to the north. The name was changed to Waskom Station in 1872 and to Waskom in 1881 to honor J. M. Waskom, a director of the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Oil was discovered near Waskom in 1924, and Waskom's population increased to some 1,000 inhabitants by the mid-1920s.
The Union Pacific railway still travels through Waskom today.
Map of Waskom Texas (courtesy of Google Maps)
Map Showing Location of Waskom in East Texas
Welcome to Waskom Texas!
Concrete Texas state line marker near Waskom (staff photo)
