While we celebrate 100 years of Memorial Park, this year, we would do well to remember that the site of Camp Logan, the World War I military training camp, along with additional acreage, was bought in 1923 and 1924 by Houston’s Hogg family to preserve as a park. In an arrangement with the city of Houston, and with a donation of $50,000 by Will, Mike, and Ima Hogg, Memorial Park, named to honor the soldiers who fought in World War I, opened as a public park in 1925.  At 1,500 acres it is one of the largest urban parks in the nation. Houstonians can thank the Hoggs for Memorial Park. 

Ima Hogg (1882-1975) was good at keeping secrets. After lo, these many years, hers are still safe. 

Here's an excerpt from Grand Tours and the Great War: Ima Hogg's Diaries, 1907-1918:  

 Here, on the last day of February 1908 (February 29, a Leap Year), Ima Hogg’s Berlin diary, which she began on January 1, ends abruptly. The little black leather book in with its brass lock has many unused pages.

         Why did she suddenly stop keeping a diary? She lived at 22 Mommsenstrasse (except for part of the summer) until October 1908, when she sailed for home.

         What did she do from March to October? Surviving documents are few: 

         On March 9 and 13 she went to concerts at two of her favorite venues in Berlin: “Mozart Saal,” March 9; “Philharmonie,” March 13.  There are programs with these dates in her scrapbook, but she did not record who, if anyone, accompanied her. 

Ima Hogg's Secret

In 1926, Agatha Christie, age 36, dropped out of public view. Why she did, and what she did during that time, have long remained a mystery

In 1918, Ima Hogg, age 36, suffered a serious loss that put her under medical care for nearly two years. Did she lose the love of her life in World War I? No one will ever know. 

Both women changed their lives after that crisis, and reinvented themselves. 

Clues to Ima's secret abound in her diaries. Draw your own conclusions when you read 

GRAND TOURS AND THE GREAT WAR: IMA HOGG'S DIARIES, 1907-2018. 

Just published a few months ago by Texas A&M Press. Available on Amazon. 

 Grand Tours and the Great War: Ima Hogg's Diaries, 1907-1918.  On Amazon. A fine holiday gift for anybody who likes music, art, travel, Europe, and secret romances. Ima was bright, talented, and good at keeping secrets. 

 

Ima's diaries are now in print! Available on Amazon. 

Did she have a secret romance in Germany? Very, very likely! 

Happy Birthday, Ima!

Ima Hogg was born on July 10, 1882. That's 140 years ago this year.

She's a Texas legend, and her memory lives on. 

In October 2022 there will be a new book about her:

Grand Tours and the Great War: Ima Hogg's Diaries, 1907-1918, edited, with commentary by Virginia Bernhard and Roswitha Wagner.

Ima Hogg kept many secrets--but her diaries offer fascinating clues about her youthful adventures, and perhaps a romance that changed her life. 

You can pre-order it on Amazon. 

Ima Hogg was born July 10, 1882. Today is her birthday. 

Some day, post-Covid, there will be a new book about her: 

"The Ima Hogg Diaries: Love and The Great War, 1907-1918" 

         Ima Hogg (1882-1975), famous in Texas folklore, cultural history, and philanthropy, left diaries of her youthful travels, including her days in Germany as World War I began. 

         They show Ima Hogg as a young woman seeking to find herself, traveling in Europe, spending a year in Germany, and perhaps losing the love of her life in World War I.  

          My good friend, Rosi Wagner (who did all the German translation) and I transcribed and edited the diaries and tried to make sense of the mysteries.

Meanwhile, 

Happy Birthday, Ima.