“Those aren’t things you normally see preserved,” Sowell said. Its shotgun- and New Orleans-style homes are largely just as they were in the early 1900s. Residents typically worked in downtown businesses or for affluent white families living on nearby Mound Street. The Zion Hill Historic District grew and developed during the 1880s and 1890s as a Black neighborhood on what was then the northeast edge of Nacogdoches. “Our plan is to focus on the African American history of that region, of the church and the neighborhood around it,” Sowell said. Since then, it has been a work in progress as more grants and donations were raised through the years to restore and repurpose it into a museum and events venue. The historical society deeded the building to the city in 2010.
“It’s been a 30-year project, getting this done.”īuilt in 1914 by architect Diedrich Rulfs, the building likely wouldn’t be standing today, Sowell said, if the Nacogdoches County Historical Society had not intervened in the 1990s, raising money and securing grants for major repairs after the church sat vacant and deteriorating for a decade. “As a kid, many times I went to that church, unfortunately more often when it was in disrepair,” said District Judge Jeff Davis, who grew up in Nacogdoches. landscape architect receives national medal for helping preserve African American landmarks Many Nacogdoches natives who grew up admiring the Gothic revival style building were thrilled at the news that a decades-long effort to revitalize and reopen it to the public will soon come to fruition. “Once we do, I’ll be telling everybody about it.” “We are looking at fall of this year, but we don’t have an exact date,” Sowell said. The company is owned by the Walls family of Houston.Originally planned to be complete by mid-2022, the $1.6 million renovation project at Zion Hill Church has been affected by two years of supply chain breakdowns and other issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Southern Newspapers and its affiliated companies now operate 17 newspapers in Texas, Alabama and Georgia. David Clemons has been named publisher of The Walton Tribune and The Loganville Tribune in Monroe, Ga. Patrick Graham has been named publisher of The Paris (Texas) News. Mike Graxiola has been named publisher of The Kerrville (Texas) Daily Times. Southern also announced management changes at several of its newspapers as part of the purchase and transition. Karla Deluca will remain publisher of The Daily Sentinel. Greg Shrader has been named publisher of The Daily News.
The newspaper has won many first-place awards during the past decade from The Associated Press, regional press associations and within Cox Newspapers. The Daily Sentinel's daily circulation is around 9,000, with Sunday circulation of nearly 12,000. The newspaper's daily circulation is around 15,000, with Sunday circulation of about 17,000. The Lufkin Daily News won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1977 for stories about abuses in military recruiting and training. "These local institutions are important to their communities, and we are confident that Southern Newspapers will continue the tradition these newspapers have of providing timely, valuable and trustworthy news and information to their readers." "Cox Enterprises greatly values the contributions that the employees of The Daily News and The Daily Sentinel have made to our company," Doug Franklin, Cox Newspapers executive vice president, said. "We look forward to working with the talented employees of both newspapers to further build on these publications' already strong relationships with their readers in Lufkin and Nacogdoches," Vahldiek said.Ĭox Enterprises' other newspapers in Texas, including the Austin American-Statesman its affiliated operations including and all of Cox's stand-alone community newspapers in North Carolina and Colorado continue to be marketed for sale. "Both The Lufkin Daily News and The Daily Sentinel are well-respected publications and have served their communities and advertisers with distinction," Lissa Walls Vahldiek, chief operating officer of Southern Newspapers, said. has purchased the Lufkin (Texas) Daily News and The Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches, Texas, from Cox Enterprises Inc.īoth newspapers will continue to publish and serve their communities as they have in the past.