East Mountain, TX

East Mountain lies on FM 1845 eleven miles southeast of Gilmer in southeastern Upshur County, with small city-limit pieces reaching into Gregg County along Gilmer Road and Coulter Road. The town started in the 1870s near a low rise that supplied its name. A school and Primitive Baptist church arrived early; Sam Salter built a horse-powered cotton gin, Thomas Wells followed with a steam gin and sawmill, and a post office opened as Savannah in 1902. After the post office closed in 1905, the place took the East Mountain name.

Oil changed the town's fortunes in the 1930s. Wells appeared around the school and churches, and by the 1980s East Mountain served farmers and ranchers in the area while sitting in the Longview orbit. The 2020 census counted 899 people. The modern map still crosses old county lines: most of the city is in Gilmer ISD, a small portion in Union Grove ISD, and the Gregg County section in Longview ISD. East Mountain is one of those places where a rise in the landscape, a former post office, and a few roads give the whole civic shape.