In 1907, James Isaac Hobbs and his wife Francis (Fannie) sold their family farm in Brown County, TX and with children Winnie, Minnie, Ella, and James Berry, moved to SE NM for Fannie's health. At the site of the site of the city that would bear their name, near present First and Texas Streets, they constructed a dugout. Berry Hobbs, who opened a store in 1909 and later served as postmaster, is credited with being the founder of Hobbs. When he applied for a PO, he submitted Taft and Prairieview as names, but when the permit was granted the postal officials had put Hobbs's name on the PO. For about 15 years, Hobbs remained a tiny agricultural community, but in 1928 the Midwest Oil Co. (now Amoco) discovered oil here, and an oil boom ensued. The old village became three towns — Hobbs, New Hobbs, and All Hobbs — together with about 12,000 people. Eventually the three merged.
1907
1929
Hobbs, founded in 1907, contributed to the rail and oil industries in New Mexico.
Julyan, Robert H., The Place Names of New Mexico, 2nd ed., Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
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