JUDSON, TEXAS. Judson, a rural community on Farm Road 502 just north of Longview in northeastern Gregg County, developed around a Missionary Baptist church established in 1883 at a school known as Lawrenceville. The church was named Judson in 1885 after the Alabama church of one of its members. A post office operated at the community from 1890 until 1906. By 1896 the community had Methodist and Baptist churches, two sawmills, a cotton gin, a school, a shingle mill, a blacksmith, and an estimated population of 300. In the mid-1930s Judson still had two schools, two cemeteries, several stores, and a sawmill. By the 1980s the community's population had begun to grow again, spurred by the development of nearby Longview. In 1990 Judson had an estimated population of 650 and seven businesses. In 1990 and again in 2000 Judson had an estimated population of 650 and seven businesses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eugene W. McWhorter, Traditions of the Land: The History of Gregg County (Longview, Texas: Gregg County Historical Foundation, 1989).

Christopher Long