Texas’ oldest weekly newspaper still going strong, celebrating 170 years in publication

by Josie Fox and Cristin Parker news@thecherokeean.com

The Cherokeean Herald has been around for 170 years – one year longer than the New York Times, which was first published in September 1851.

After the Republic of Texas joined the United States in 1845, Cherokee County was formed out of Nacogdoches County, with Rusk as county seat in 1848. According to historical officials, the Cherokee Sentinel published its first issue on Feb. 27, 1850, and the current Cherokeean Herald traces its origin to this publication.

Over the years, the Cherokeean was known by many names, including the Texas Observer after the Civil War.

“It was here, working as a printer’s devil, that Texas’ first native-born governor, James Stephen Hogg, at the age of 16, began his career in the newspaper business,” the Portal to Texas History’s website states. “The Hogg family homestead is southeast of Rusk. Some other notable publishers of the paper over the years were Samuel A. Wilson, a noted judge; John Benjamin Long, a U.S. Congressman, state legislator and mayor of Rusk; and state representative Wallace M. Ellis.”

Currently owned by the Lewis County Press in Canton, Mo., the paper boasts its first all-female staff -- General Manager Megan Dover, Publisher Josie Fox, Editor Cristin Parker, Office Manager Penny Hawkins and staff writer Michelle Dillon. Fox took over as editor in April 2018 from the paper’s first black managing editor, Quinten Boyd.

“I grew up in Rusk so I was excited to step into the role of editor, then publisher, of my hometown paper,” Fox said. “It’s really neat, too, to know we’re continuing to make history at the paper. My continued goal is to keep the hometown feel of the newspaper by reporting and publishing factual and unbiased news that focuses on our local community.”

The current owners purchased the publication in 2017 from longtime owners, Terri and Robert Gonzales, who took over the paper’s operation when Terri’s parents, Emmett and Marie Whitehead, retired.

“My parents purchased The Rusk Cherokeean on June 1, 1950,” said Terrie Whitehead Gonzalez of Austin. “At the time, Mom was just 22 years old and Dad was 25.

“They quickly established deep roots in the community and worked very hard to make the city and Cherokee County a better place to live through the megaphone that was the newspaper, and later through two radio stations, KTLU-AM and KWRW-FM.

“Through the voice and impact of the newspaper, my parents joined community leaders through the decades to defend Rusk State Hospital from threatened closures, and to help create the two Texas Department of Corrections’ two prison units.”

Under the direction of the Whiteheads, the Rusk Cherokeean merged with the Alto Herald in 1989 to the Cherokeean Herald. While earning a master’s degree in journalism in the 1970s, Marie Whitehead researched and determined the paper’s inception date and proved the Rusk Cherokeean is the oldest, continuously published weekly newspaper, which was the basis for an application for a marker from the Cherokee County Historical Commission. It was officially dedicated Oct. 7, 2001.

“Dad used to say that a newspaper should be like a mirror which reflects the community it serves, and that is an ambitious goal for all journalists in 2019,” Terri Gonzales said. “My parents’ mantra was ‘the measure of a life is service to others,’ and they personified that commitment in their stewardship at the newspaper.

“My husband Robert and I moved to Rusk in 1986, and we found ourselves standing on my parents’ shoulders, committing to evolve through the digital age and to be the best newspaper we could be.”

“I am so humbled and honored that we were able to secure Tocker Foundation grants to get the newspaper’s archives digitized. We were the first newspaper in Texas to have the archives placed at the University of North Texas’ Portal to Texas History. This treasure will be re-gifted to future generations and will secure Rusk’s place in Texas history as the home of the oldest weekly newspaper.”