DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it straight as I can. James Stephen Hogg — you know him as Texas' first native governor, serving from 1891 to 1895 — but before all that statecraft, before the capitol rotunda and the railroad hearings, there was a twenty-year-old with ink on his hands and a newspaper to run. Right here in Longview.
The year was 1871, and young Hogg founded his first newspaper, the Longview News. Twenty years old. Most fellows that age are still figuring out which end of a horse is which.
Hogg was running a paper. Now, he hadn't walked in cold. He'd already done apprentice news work before this, so he knew the trade.
But founding your own publication — that's a different animal entirely. That's putting your name on every word that goes out into the world. And Hogg had plenty of words.
In those pages, he came out strong for educational and governmental improvements for Longview. He campaigned against radical reconstruction policies, against railroad subsidies, against lawlessness. The man had opinions, and he had the press to print them.
He kept at it for three years as a publisher — three years of deadlines and ink and conviction. The marker tells us this experience developed his qualities of leadership and led to later success as a statesman. And standing here where the Longview News once rolled off the press, that line doesn't sound like boilerplate.
It sounds like the beginning of something.
What the marker says
Texas' first native governor (1891-1895), James Stephen Hogg, founded here in 1871 his first newspaper, the Longview News. He was then 20 years old. In his paper Hogg was a strong supporter of educational and governmental improvements for Longview. He campaigned against radical reconstruction policies, railroad subsidies, lawlessness. This venture, following earlier apprentice news work, showed Hogg's alertness, self-confidence. He was a publisher for 3 years. This experience developed his qualities of leadership and led to later success as a statesman. (1967)