J. H. Jones and the Old Settlers Reunion Grounds

The reunion ground passed from the Old Settlers to the state and then to the city. The Handbook of Texas says the association opened the site in 1941 as Quitman City Park, then gave 17 acres to the state in 1946, which named it Governor Hogg Shrine State Historical Park; the marker dates the deed to 1952. Ima Hogg gave 4.74 acres in 1970. In 2007 the state sold the park to the city of Quitman, which renamed it Governor Jim Hogg City Park and RV Park.

What the plaque says

J. H. Jones and the Old Settlers Reunion Grounds A native of Alabama, J. H. Jones (d. 1923) came to Texas in 1877. After teaching school for several years, he was elected clerk of Wood County in 1886. He later became a successful merchant in Quitman. In 1902 Jones donated property at this site to the Old Settlers of Wood County Association, organized three years earlier under the leadership of newspaper editor James L. Ray (d. 1929). Except for a short time during World War I, annual homecoming activities have been held here. The reunion grounds were deeded to the Governor Hogg Shrine State Park in 1952. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Governor Hogg Shrine — steps away
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Tyler State Park — 24 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Lake Bob Sandlin State Park — 27 mi
  A 1987 state park on a 9,000-acre reservoir, where a Republic of Texas stockade called Fort Sherman stood in 1838 and the Caddo lived from A.D. 800 to 1860, now with fishing piers, trails and cabins.

More markers nearby

• Col. James A. Stinson Home — steps away
• James Stephen Hogg — 0.3 mi
• Wood County — 1.9 mi
• First Election in Wood County — 7.4 mi