Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Overton, TX

Overton is a city that straddles two counties — its Rusk County portion belongs to the Longview metropolitan area, while its Smith County portion belongs to the Tyler metropolitan area.

Native peoples of the area knew the site as Tiyuk Hekia, meaning 'Standing Pine,' long before Anglo settlement.

The town was platted in 1873 and named for Major Frank Overton, an early settler and landowner who donated land for the townsite.

Overton grew as a railroad shipping point on the Henderson and Overton Branch and the International-Great Northern lines, drawing in businesses from neighboring communities the railroads had bypassed.

Overton's residents helped raise the money for wildcatter C. M. 'Dad' Joiner's third well in 1930, and when it came in, the great East Texas oil boom remade the town.

The boom shot Overton's population from 426 in 1931 to 3,000 in 1933 and 4,500 by 1936, and Hubbard College was founded in town during the boom years.

The 2020 census counted 2,275 people in Overton, living in 884 households across the city's 6.8 square miles.

Overton's official motto is 'A Growing Community nestled in the Piney Woods of East Texas.'

Most of Overton is served by the Overton Independent School District, and its neighborhoods fall in the service areas of both Kilgore College and Tyler Junior College.

From 2003 to 2005 Overton was the headquarters of a Republic of Texas secessionist faction, which even minted its own one-gram silver coins stamped with the town's name.