Jim Hogg County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, out here in deep South Texas, there's a county with a name that carries some real weight. Jim Hogg County.

Carved out of Brooks and Duval counties, created on March 31, 1913, and organized just a few months later on August 11, 1913. That's a county that came together fast and knew what it wanted to be. And what it wanted, clearly, was to honor a man worth honoring.

James Stephen Hogg, born 1851, died 1906. The first native Texan to serve as Governor of Texas. Think about that for a moment.

All those years of Texas history rolling by, all those names and faces in the Governor's chair, and it took until James Stephen Hogg for one of them to have been born right here on Texas soil. That's a distinction that tends to stick with a county when it's deciding what to put on its sign. But the name isn't the only thing Hogg left behind.

The marker calls him the father of the Railroad Commission, which in a state where railroads once meant the difference between a town that thrived and a town that dried up and blew away, well, that's not a small thing to be father of. The county seat is Hebbronville, holding it all together down in that corner of South Texas, the way a good county seat does. Jim Hogg County.

Named with intention, organized with purpose, and sitting out there today just the same as it always has.

What the marker says

Formed from Brooks and Duval counties; created March 31, 1913; organized August 11, 1913. Named in honor of James Stephen Hogg, 1851-1906, first native Texan to serve as Governor; father of the Railroad Commission. Hebbronville, the county seat.