Kilgore is a city in Gregg and Rusk counties in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Over three-fourths of the city limits is located in Gregg County, the remainder in Rusk County. The population was 12,975 at the 2010 census and 13,376 at the 2020 census.

From the age of six, Van Cliburn lived in Kilgore; he became an internationally known classical pianist. He is the namesake for Van Cliburn Auditorium on the Kilgore College campus.

Kilgore was founded in 1872 following the International–Great Northern Railroad completed the initial phase of rail line amongst Palestine and Longview. The rail company chose to bypass New Danville, a little community more or less 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Longview, in lieu of a supplementary townsite platted upon 174 acres (0.70 km) sold to the railroad by Constantine Buckley Kilgore, the town’s namesake. That habit the railroad gained the profits from sale and proceed of these lands.

The extra town expected a pronounce office in 1873 and, with a station and transportation for getting commodity crops to market, soon began to glamor residents and businesses away from New Danville. By 1885, the population had reached 250, and the community had two cotton gins, a church, and a school (for white children only). The racially segregated Kilgore Independent School District was organized in 1910. By 1914 the town had two banks, several businesses, and a reported population of 700. The 1920s showed continued steady growth, and by 1929 Kilgore was home to an estimated 1,000 residents.