Gladewater is a city in Gregg and Upshur counties in the U.S. state of Texas afterward a 2020 census population of 6,134.

In the forward 20th century, Gladewater was an oil boom town. In 1995, the Texas Legislature proclaimed it the “Antique Capital of East Texas.”

Gladewater was founded by the Texas and Pacific Railway Company in 1873 upon land bought from Jarrett Dean and Anderson White. A community called St. Clair, 2 miles (3 km) to the east, moved to Gladewater next the railroad announced that the deserted mail stop in the Place would be there; residents from Point Pleasant, also bypassed by the railroad, moved to Gladewater. The first herald office at Gladewater was established upon August 22, 1873. The town’s pronounce probably originated from its proximity to Glade Creek, a tributary of the Sabine River that rose in a rather barren region called the Glades.

In 1874, Gladewater was incorporated as soon as a mayor-alderman government. The immersion lapsed, and a supplementary charter was not obtained until 1931, when an influx of population necessitated organized city government. In 1955 Gladewater adopted a council-mayor form of government. The population grew slowly during the nineteenth century; the town had lonely 163 people in 1880 and 259 in 1900. In the area around Gladewater lumbering was a major activity, although cultivation was furthermore important; cotton was the major crop. In 1908 the town had ten stores, one bank, two blacksmith shops, two hotels, a gin, a sawmill, and a planing mill. It continued to amass slowly until 1931.