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)