Statue of 20th Texas Governor Jim Hogg unveiled in Rusk

RUSK, Texas (KETK) – The Heritage Center of Cherokee County unveiled a laser-cut metal statue of 20th Governor of Texas and Rusk native, Jim Hogg, on Sunday.

In a ceremony at their museum in Rusk on Sunday, the center dedicated the statue, shown in the photo to the left.

According to the center, Hogg was the first governor of Texas actually born in Texas. He was born in Rusk on March 24, 1851.

“So his last speech is what was what inspired me to build his sculpture here. We used a picture picture that he was in Arkansas sitting on a stump, and it’s the only full body picture I’d ever seen of him,” said Betty Marcontell, curator of the Heritage Center of Cherokee County. “And so I had found a fabricator here in Cherokee County, said they could do it. And I wanted his speech known, his last speech he ever wrote, ten things he wanted to happen in Texas.”

Hogg served as a newspaperman, a lawyer, the Texas Seventh Judicial District Attorney, the Attorney General of Texas and then as the Governor of Texas from 1891 to 1894.

The Texas Railroad Commission was created during Hogg’s tenure as governor in 1891.

To learn more about Hogg, the statue and his last speech, visit the Heritage Center of Cherokee County online.