Polk Directory then down a rabbit hole

- Includes Hobbs history -

The Polk's Directory and Texas State Gazetteer has a short entry for Hobbs, Texas in the year 1914.

Population 45. In Fisher county, 14 miles from Roby, the county seat and 14 from Rotan, the usual banking and shipping point. Telephone connection. Henry C. Shanks, postmaster. Shanks Henry C, General Store.

Looking for a photo of the old store in high school annuals of the late fifties, only text ads could be found for Henderson's Grocery and Station.

An internet search for photos led to a book (and the usual barrage of Hobbs, New Mexico results), The Empty Schoolhouse by Luther Bryan Clegg. 

Upon sampling the book, Buddy Burnett sprang to life as he spoke of Dallas, Grady, old Baird and Camp Springs in describing the history of the Hobbs School. It's interesting to note, according to Burnett, that the original school was called Chicken Foot.

Stanley Morris, the surveyor, told me years ago that there was a place that used to be called Dallas here in Fisher County. As close as I can ascertain, that was east of Hobbs, around the intersection of county roads 319 and 320. There used to be an old house there that we called The Buzzard House because my kids and I saw a buzzard chick living in it.

I've ordered the aforementioned book and I look forward to its arrival. It's a collection of stories from people who attended the first rural schools in Texas.

If you're interested, you can also purchase it by clicking on the book title link.