Gun Barrel City is a town in Henderson County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,190 at the 2020 census, an increase over the figure of 5,672 tabulated in 2010.
The town began as an unincorporated community known as the "Old Bethel Community" in the 1960s after completion of Cedar Creek Reservoir. It was incorporated in the late 1960s so it could legally sell beer and wine. The town takes its name from a former road, Gun Barrel Lane (which is now State Highway 198), as has as its motto, "We Shoot Straight with You", and its symbol—a rifle with two crossed antique pistols after having to remove Yosemite Sam as its unofficial mascot on its signs along the road at the town limits. Gun Barrel Lane is rumored to have gotten its name during the 1920s and 1930s when Jesse Daniels frequented the area. It was considered a safe backwoods place during Prohibition when the likes of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker hung out in the area. The road got its name for simply being "straight as a gun barrel" for 2 mi between US Hwy 175 and Texas Hwy 334 to the south. A local resident, Mr. C. L. Wait, lived along the road and was known for sitting at the window of his house with a shotgun sticking out the window. It was his way of deterring those he deemed unwelcome on this back-country road.
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