Cherokee County, Texas
Rusk is home to 36 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Built in 1862 by John L. Whitescarver, William H. Campbell and Benjamin F. Campbell. When unable to secure materials and tools for the manufacture of rifles, Colt-model pistols were made. A number of Negroes were…
View on map ↗Named in honor of Joseph T. Cook; native of North Carolina; Early settler in Nacogdoches; Owner of land on which a military company under Captain Black built a fort never attacked by Indians; On adjacent land, James…
View on map ↗Birthplace of James Stephen Hogg, son of Lucanda McMath Hogg and Joseph Lewis Hogg. Born March 24, 1851. Died March 3, 1906. First native Texan to serve as governor. Inspirer of the passage of the Railroad Commission…
View on map ↗Civil War manufacturing, supply and military center. Field Transportation Bureau shop made and repaired wagons, saddles, harnesses. Gun factory produced "Mississippi rifles" and pistols. Two iron works cast plows,…
View on map ↗Founded 1846. Named for Republic of Texas Statesman Thomas J. Rusk. Industrial site and supply depot in the Civil War. Birthplace of Texas governors James S. Hogg, Thomas M. Campbell. City and county rich in historical…
View on map ↗One of the oldest houses in Rusk; Built 1847-48; Dog-trot styling, pine construction. Modernized in 1919 and 1935. Three former owners were Confederate captains; Daniel Egbert, E. C. Williams, Elbert L. Gregg. Owned by…
View on map ↗Built 1865 by C.Chaffee, a New Orleans promoter-cotton buyer. Served 1868-1883 as law office of S.A Wilson, member of 5-man commission to codify Texas law under Constitution of 1876; Later judge in State Court of…
View on map ↗Typical Texas house of the 1850s, when it was built. Deeded 1873 to Dr. Frazer, who in Civil War had been in 3rd Texas Cavalry and Brigade of Gen. Joseph Hogg. For over 40 years, until his death in 1908, Dr. Frazer was…
View on map ↗(546 feet long; 4 feet wide) First built 1861 as the means for residents east of valley to get to town during rainy seasons. Rebuilt in 1889 by T. H. Barnes, engineer building New Birmingham (now ghost town, to the…
View on map ↗Attorney James N. Thomas (b. 1816) erected the one-story portion of this residence before 1851. James I. Perkins (1847-1923) built the two-story wings and added Victorian detailing after he purchased the property in…
View on map ↗The abundance of iron ore for use in manufacturing prompted a commission appointed by Gov. Richard Coke in 1875 to select this region for a state penitentiary. In 1877 this 19,000-acre tract was purchased form T. Y. T.…
View on map ↗In the late 1880s the Texas Prison System built a short rail line from the state penitentiary facility in north Rusk southward to hardwood timber stands, where charcoal was made for use in firing the prison's iron ore…
View on map ↗During the Civil War this area along the road from Rusk to Crockett served as a training camp for Confederate soldiers. Located in a bare field with an available water supply from the nearby Pryor Branch, Camp Rusk was…
View on map ↗Cherokee County has a rich and varied history. Spanish and French explorers of the seventeenth century found Tejas and Hasinai Indians living in this area, and Spanish missions were established in the region. Driven out…
View on map ↗The Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Rusk was organized on May 2, 1847 by the Rev. J. B. Harris, with a charter membership of four. A Sunday School was begun in 1850, and existed as a Union school until the 1880s.…
View on map ↗Organized in 1849, this congregation was first served by the Rev. Henderson D. Palmer (1812-1869). A circuit riding minister, Palmer received his license to preach in 1838 in Nacogdoches County. The first deed for the…
View on map ↗The First Baptist Church of Rusk traces its history to 1853, when a small group of worshippers led by the Rev. John C. Woolam met in the home of Mrs. Nan C. Trimble to organize a congregation. Early worship services…
View on map ↗This courthouse, the fourth to serve the citizens of Cherokee County, was built in 1940-41 with the assistance of the Federal Works Progress Administration. Designed by the architectural firm of Gill & Bennett, the…
View on map ↗In the winter of 1819-1820 Chief John Bowles led about sixty Cherokee families from Arkansas to East Texas. Near this site a small settlement was established by a leader named Little Bean. They remained until 1839, when…
View on map ↗After efforts to relocate a Methodist school to Rusk fell through, the community convinced the Cherokee Baptist Association to establish a school on 12.2 acres donated by local resident Georgiana Bonner. Chartered in…
View on map ↗Formed by 15 young single women in 1902 with fewer than 50 books, this library club would later donate to the City of Rusk a volume of books that greatly contributed to an inventory in excess of 23,000 books. The Book…
View on map ↗By 1884 the Rusk Public School District maintained two schools: No. 1 for its Anglo students and No. 2 for its African American students. A yearly average of 50 students met in a small house built here about 1895 to…
View on map ↗Two speeches were delivered by Sam Houston in Rusk. The first, in 1855, was a debate with politician Frank Bowden. Houston, a U.S. Senator, was on a tour through central and east Texas trying to regain public favor…
View on map ↗New Birmingham was a boom town nearby in the late 1880s built around local iron ore operations. The furnaces, capable of producing 50 tons of iron daily, were named "Tassie Belle," after the wife of the town founder A.…
View on map ↗Wyatt Thomas Norman and William Harrison Shook, both Cherokee County natives, opened a law office on the Courthouse Square in 1898. George Gibson became a partner in 1918. He later moved to Jacksonville and opened a…
View on map ↗Several families came to this area from Edgefield District, South Carolina, where they were members of the Church of Christ in Salem. Among these settlers were the Berry, Martin, Coleman, Nickolson and Jennings…
View on map ↗In November 1847, James Ferguson, a land speculator, bought 1,600 acres including this site and built a mill. He successfully operated it for several years, employing five workers by 1852. He lost the property in a…
View on map ↗The first newspaper in Rusk was the short-lived Rusk Pioneer, which began in 1848 and moved to Palestine the following year. On February 27, 1850, the first issue of the Cherokee Sentinel was published. This is the…
View on map ↗Members of the Baptist Church of Christ at Salem and other area churches in the Edgefield District of South Carolina traveled together to Texas in 1846-48 and settled in what became the Sardis community of Cherokee…
View on map ↗James Stephen Hogg was born in 1851 to Lucanda (McMath) and Joseph L. Hogg on the family's plantation near Rusk. After a political career in Wood County as justice of the peace, judge and prosecutor, he became Texas…
View on map ↗In 2002, First Baptist Church purchased 16 acres at this location, built a new sanctuary and moved in December 2006.
View on map ↗about 11 miles sw of Rusk, TX. on FM 23. Turn west on CR 2313 and .1 miles north on the CR 2314
View on map ↗This family cemetery is located on property owned by John R. Jones and his wife Mary. The couple came here with family from Jackson County, Alabama in 1853. They established a farm and built a log cabin. John Jones died…
View on map ↗Established in 1847 as the city cemetery, Cedar Hill Cemetery is located at the south edge of Rusk in Cherokee County, atop a hill surrounded by a dense forest. Some of Rusk’s oldest and most prominent residents have…
View on map ↗New settlers arriving primarily from the southern states arrived in this section of Cherokee County by the late 1840s, and Lowe’s Chapel Cemetery was begun soon after. Local tradition holds that as a wagon train passed…
View on map ↗The first hotel to occupy this site was the Union Hotel, a wood frame building erected in 1849. Renamed Bracken House for a subsequent owner, it continued to serve the city until 1889. Civil War General Joseph L. Hogg,…
View on map ↗RoadHistorical maps all 15,000+ Texas historical markers and alerts you as you pass them. Free to download.
Keep exploring