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An
old grocery store in Rusk
now houses memorabilia telling the rich history of Rusk
and Cherokee County--one
of the oldest counties in East
Texas.
The old Barr grocery store was donated to Rusk
by the Norman Foundation of Jacksonville
and remodeled with the financial help of the T.L.L. Temple Foundation
of Diboll and the Pineywoods Foundation of Lufkin.
The building, known as the The Heritage Center of Cherokee County,
sits a block off Rusk’s
courthouse square Cherokee
County was occupied by Indians long before white men traveled
west to Texas from the Old South. Arrowheads,
pottery shards and other relics from the Indian era can be found regularly
in the county.
Exhibits at the Heritage Center include an old poster bed once used
by Texas Governor Jim
Hogg, who lived in Rusk;
photos and other items from New
Birmingham, an iron-making community that once stood on Rusk’s
outskirts; and items from the Texas
State Railroad, which still carries passengers on a route between
Rusk and Palestine.
Visitors will also find a wealth of old photos from early Cherokee
County scattered throughout the museum, reflecting what Rusk
and the county looked like decades ago.
Combined
with the opening of the Museum was an autograph party for Marie Whitehead’s
book, “The History of the Rusk Cherokeean, 1847-1973.” Mrs.
Whitehead is the paper’s publisher.
The Cherokeean traces its origin to the years after the Civil War
and is a descendant of the Rusk Pioneer and the Cherokee Sentinel.
The paper was also known as the Texas Observer, in which Governor
Hogg had an interest.
A few years ago, the Cherokeean was merged with the Alto Herald, and
lays claim as the oldest, continuously-operated weekly newspaper in
Texas.
Bob
Bowman's East Texas July 12, 2009 Column
(Bob Bowman of Lufkin is the author of more than 40 books about East
Texas history and folklore. He can be reached at bob-bowman.com.)
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