Rusk

Rusk, Texas (population: 5,085), is the Cherokee County seat and 31 miles E of Palestine, 37 miles NW of Nacogdoches, and 120 miles SE of Dallas. Named for Thomas Jefferson Rusk who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, Rusk also was the birthplace for James Stephen Hogg and Thomas Campbell, who were the first two Governors of Texas to be born in the state.
One of the state's smallest bank buildings, the old Bonner Bank, stands near the New Southern Hotel on U.S. 59 The bank was operated as Cherokee County's first bank between l884 and l892 by F.W. Bonner.

Now, onward towards the old downtown square....


the empty Thomas J. Rusk Hotel

Texas State Railroad mural
The First Presbyterian Church, c. 1913-14, 1925
It is possible some members of this Philathea Class of 1917 who paved the church walkway are still living and attending church services. My maternal grandfather, who died back in May, was born in 1914.

Cherokee County Courthouse, c. 1941, Art-Moderne style
This statue is from 1907 and honors the Confederate dead of Cherokee County. On the courthouse square, it is unique because it faces south instead of north as most Confederate statues do.

Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land...


Cherokee Theater, c. 1946 (now the Cherokee Civic Theater)

detail pic from a previous visit
Across the street from the Cherokee Theater sits the J.W. Summers Home, built in 1884.