Good news: The Ima Hogg Museum will soon be open for tours and viewing in the Governor Jim Hogg City Park in Quitman.

Delene Allen, director of the Quitman Public Library, has been working closely with volunteers, and friends, and especially the genealogical society, and the Elizabeth Denton English chapter of the DAR for several years to get the project where it is today.

According to a presentation Allen gave to the Quitman City Council, the Ima Hogg Museum restoration project has not been an easy thing to tackle; however, Allen’s passion to bring the beautiful home, and the history of Quitman, to light, has brought many others to see just how special it is.

“Your passion in bringing this so close to life is just fascinating,” said councilman David Dobbs.

When they started the restoration project for the adjacent Honeymoon Cottage, Allen says that the “roof was caving in, the floor was caving in, the fireplace – everything was just off, and not level, and there was a pest problem.”

But with a delineated list of how to fix the problems, Allen says that “we completed the Honeymoon Cottage, and it’s been open for quite some time for tours.” Tours are given by volunteers from the DAR chapter on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. until noon. For their efforts in restoring the Honeymoon Cottage, Allen says that the chapter of the DAR won first place nationally in Washington, D.C.

Now that the cottage is complete, Allen and her volunteers have turned their attention to renovating and re-opening the Ima Hogg Museum. This, she says, will help preserve the beautiful history of the area.

“What my volunteers and I are doing is going through and getting the history that’s part of all this,” said Allen. “People are wanting to get on board now; they’re seeing some of the pieces that we have.”

The new museum will feature several historical stations about local history, which will include the Native American Caddoan settlement; the early settlers of Wood County; the history of Quitman; Thomas Morrow Reavely and James Stephen Hogg; Sissy Spacek; and Quitman today.

Allen has been very purposeful to collect interesting, unique, often irreplaceable items to fill Quitman’s Ima Hogg Museum. Items range from photographs of early, notable families from Quitman, to Governor Jim Hogg’s old rocking chair, to signed, original movie scripts from Sissy Spacek, which Spacek “came through and gave” to Allen herself. The museum will even feature an original, functional carriage from 1842.

According to Allen, the Ima Hogg Museum will have rotating exhibits and will be a venue for art, cultural exhibits and more.

Although there are sometimes so many balls to juggle that Allen says it feels like a domino effect – “I can’t do this until I do that, until I do that – ” Allen says that she and her team of volunteers are hoping to open the house for a special July 4th celebration.

“The DAR would love to have a July 4th celebration and open both museums, open those French doors, just let people go in, go from one museum to the other. We’d at least like to have it open as a work in progress by that time,” said Allen.

Many groups of individuals and organizations are involved with this project, and together, they’re getting things done.

“I think we can all work together and make this happen!” said Allen.

“I look forward to that, and I think July 4th is a great target date,” said Quitman Mayor Randy Dunn.

Anyone interested in donating time or materials can contact Allen and the DAR from 10-6 on Wednesdays at the Quitman Public Library or by calling the library at 903-763-4191.