Explore Jim Hogg Park: A Glimpse into Texas History
By: Christopher Long
Revised by: Laurie E. Jasinski
Published: 1976
Updated: January 22, 2026
Jim Hogg Park is off U.S. Highway 84 two miles northeast of Rusk in central Cherokee County. The 178-acre park in the piney woods includes portions of the old Mountain Home Plantation, the birthplace of Governor James Stephen Hogg. The area was originally settled by Hogg's parents, Lucanda (McMath) and Joseph L. Hogg, who moved there in 1839. In 1941 James Hogg's children Ima Hogg, Thomas E. Hogg, and Mike Hogg presented the property to the city of Rusk, which turned over the deed to the State Parks Board. The park included a museum that was a scale replica (1967) of the dog-trot cabin in which Hogg was born as well as a nature trail, the Hogg family cemetery, playground, picnic sites, and an old iron-ore strip mine. In the early 1990s, citing a “redirection of resources,” the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) announced its plans to close the park due to high cost and low visitation, but the park remained open and entrance fees were later lowered in the effort to attract more visitors. A 1999 law authorized TPWD to give local jurisdictions the opportunity to own a state park located near a city. Subsequently TPWD transferred Jim Hogg Park back to the city of Rusk in 2000. As part of the agreement, TPWD made repairs and renovations before the city assumed full responsibility for the continued maintenance and operation of the park.
Bibliography:
Commission Agenda Item No. 13, Action, TPW Facilty Transfers, August 2000, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/feedback/meetings/2000/0831/agenda/item_13/), accessed January 22, 2026. Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin. San Antonio Express-News, May 26, 2001. Tyler Morning Telegraph, March 11, 1941; July 31, 1992; February 9, 1994; September 5, 2000. Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Christopher Long Revised by Laurie E. Jasinski, “Jim Hogg Park,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/jim-hogg-state-historic-park.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
GKJ02
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- 1976
- January 22, 2026
