Hobbs, Texas. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Settlement dates from the mid 1880s. A ten school / church was set up by Baptist preacher Robert Martin in 1887.

First called Buffalo, for nearby Buffalo Creek, when the post office opened in 1888, it was renamed to honor settler Vachel Hobbs.

Now that the Baptists had a proper church and the Methodists had built one in 1903, a new school was constructed in 1908, also taking the name of Hobbs.

By 1914 Hobbs only had 45 residents, but it did have telephone service as well as the aforementioned churches and a general store. The post office closed in 1915.

By 1925 several other schools united to form the Hobbs Rural High School District. A modern two-story school was built just north of town and in a short time residents and business moved the three miles to better appreciate the new building.

"Old" Hobbs retained a store and several buildings, but "New" Hobbs was the de facto community - albeit a dispersed community with no center (besides the school).

In 1927 the Methodist church was razed due to declining membership. The population fell to 70 but three businesses remained. The town was 'electrified" in 1939.

A cooperative gin was organized in the 40s and in the mid 1950s they rebuilt the high school. It maintained an estimated population of 91 from the 1970 census through 2000. Hobbs' school was closed in 1989 and the pupils dispersed to schools in either Roby, Snyder or Rotan.