Troup is situated between the two very old Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Creek intertribal settlements of Nanih Shinuk (Sand Hill) and Ofunlo Hina (Screech Owl Bend).

Descendants of these peoples still live there as part of the state-recognized Mount Tabor Indian Community.

Texas State Highway 135 shares two blocks of Duval Street (named after John Crittenden Duval, the only survivor of the Goliad Massacre, and known as the "Father of Texas literature") with Highway 110 in the center of town; it leads northeast 25 miles (40 km) to Kilgore and southwest 17 miles (27 km) to Jacksonville.

The Tigers also competed in the 2004 Texas State Football Championship, losing to the Crawford Pirates in the final game.

Troup is also the hometown of Byron Payton, a member of the United States 1980 Olympic boxing team.

He died with 21 other members of the team on 14 March 1980 when their Polish Airlines Ilyushin IL-62 crashed short of the runway in Warsaw, Poland.

Former Troup Tiger standout Keylon Kincade enjoyed an All Conference career at SMU, leading the WAC in yards from scrimmage in 2003, as well as carries in both 2002 and 2003.

He played a game in 2006 with the Dallas Cowboys and was named the Whataburger Coach of the Week in November 2019 while at Winona High.