Northeast Texas - Regional Evolution

Regional Evolution

The region is unique in that it is the only portion of East Texas that is not within the direct sphere of influence of either Dallas/Fort Worth or Houston. This generally weakens the area's visibility as areas in the south ally themselves with Houston and areas to the west ally themselves with Dallas. These areas are on the fringe of those cities spheres of influence, and therefore not as visible as smaller cities such as Grapevine or Deer Park which are closer to the respective centers of power.

In the mid to 19th century Marshall and Jefferson constituted a sphere of influence that led the state into the Confederacy and during the Mexican and Republic periods Nacogdoches and San Augustine were the most developed and influential cities in Northeast Texas. Nacogdoches rebelled against Mexican rule in the Fredonian Rebellion and had one of the first newspapers to run the phrase Remember the Alamo!. While none of these three cities are a major population center, in their own right on the state level any longer, all four are still major cultural centers; with Nacogdoches, & Tyler being well established centers of higher learning.

Today Tyler and Longview are the largest cities in Northeast Texas. Longview has a larger population. The Longview MSA is 206,874, and the Tyler MSA is 201,414. Neither Tyler or Longview has succeeded in establishing themselves as the regional hub. Tyler has a general partnership with Jacksonville while Longview has leaned more and more toward cooperation with its traditional rival Marshall. The Nacogdoches/Lufkin area is not yet considered to be a metropolitan area.

In the last decade of the 20th century and first decade of the 21st century many of the cities of Northeast Texas began to cooperate by forming organizations dedicated to a single agenda of common interest, such as the North East Texas Tourism Council and Northeast Texas Air Care.