Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Luling Luling, TX

Luling was founded in 1874 as a railroad town on the San Marcos River in southern Caldwell County and is part of the Austin metropolitan area.

Luling was named for Charles Luling, a New York banker whose financing helped build the railroad and buy the land that became the town.

Luling was a rowdy Chisholm Trail cattle town in the 1870s, when it was described as "the toughest town in Texas."

Luling's fortunes changed on August 9, 1922, when Edgar B. Davis's Rafael Rios No. 1 well struck oil, opening a field twelve miles long and two miles wide that produced over 15 million barrels in 1924 alone.

Luling's oil boom shot the population from about 500 to more than 5,000 almost overnight, and oil remained the backbone of the local economy for the next sixty years.

Luling had 5,599 residents in the 2020 census, and Census QuickFacts counts about 2,519 households.

Luling celebrates its prize crop every June at the Watermelon Thump, a festival held since 1954 with watermelon seed-spitting and weigh-off contests.

Luling oilman Edgar B. Davis founded the Luling Foundation in 1927 to teach diversified agriculture and improve the lives of farm and ranch families.

Luling is a pilgrimage stop on the Texas barbecue trail, and its City Market pit barbecue is considered by some to be among the best in the state.

Luling's first industries included the gristmill and sawmill built in 1874 by John and James Merriwether and Leonidas Hardeman, later known as Zedler's Mills.