The Rusk Cherokeean

The claim to be the oldest continuously published weekly in Texas rests on research by Marie Whitehead. In the 1970s she traced the paper to the Cherokee Sentinel, whose first issue appeared on February 27, 1850, and concluded that it has never stopped. A marker recognizing the claim was dedicated on October 7, 2001. The paper counts itself one year older than the New York Times. Terri and Robert Gonzales sold it in 2017 to the Lewis County Press of Canton, Missouri, and Josie Fox became editor in 2018 after Quinten Boyd, its first Black managing editor.

What the plaque says

The Rusk Cherokeean 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 publication to which the current Cherokeean/Herald can trace its origin. After the Civil War, the name of the weekly paper was changed to the Texas Observer, and it was at this paper, as a typesetter, that Texas' first native governor, James Stephen Hogg, began his work in the newspaper business. This weekly publication underwent a series of name changes and consolidations over the years but remained in continuous operation. Among its significant publishers have been: Samuel A. Willson, a noted judge, who was appointed by Governor Richard Coke to help codify the laws of Texas under the 1876 Constitution; John Benjamin Long, a U.S. Congressman, state legislator and mayor of Rusk; and state representative Wallace M. Ellis. They and other publishers and editors have kept the citizens of Rusk and Cherokee County informed of news and events throughout the years. The Rusk Cherokeean published its first issue in 1919 and purchased the Press Journal (a successor to the Cherokee Sentinel) in 1923. In 1959, the paper's name was shortened to the Cherokeean. It has been known as the Cherokeean/Herald since a merger with the Alto Herald in 1989. At the beginning of the 21st century, the publication could lay claim as the oldest, continuously operated, weekly newspaper in Texas. (2001) Text of supplemental plate: June 1, 1950, Emmett and Marie Whitehead bought this newspaper from Frank and Marie Main. They and their family have owned it since.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 14 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 25 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Cherokee County C.S.A. — steps away
• Cherokee County — steps away
• Bachelor Girl's Library Club — steps away
• Rusk Footbridge — 0.2 mi