The current State Highway 359 was designated on August 24, 1954, along the old US 59 route from Beeville to Laredo.

SH 359 covered essentially its present-day route, plus a co-routing with US 181 from Skidmore to Beeville.

The route continues in a southwest direction past Lake Corpus Christi through Sandia, Orange Grove and Alfred until it reaches Alice, where it is briefly co-routed with SH 44.

Here the route takes a more western direction and runs through Bruni and Oilton before its final junction with US 83 at Laredo on the Mexican border.

With the exception of its western terminus at Laredo, most of the terrain covered by the highway is sparsely populated and rural.