HOBSON, TEXAS. Hobson is on U.S. Highway 181 and Farm Road 81 near Indian Crossing on the San Antonio River, 3½ miles south of Falls City in Karnes County. During the 1890s the town was founded under the name Castine on the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway by the Mitchell Brothers firm of Hallettsville. A post office was established there in 1898. Shortly thereafter the Spanish-American War hero Capt. Richmond Pearson Hobson made a railroad tour of Texas and spoke at Castine; local citizens renamed their town Hobson in 1899. R. J. Polasek operated the first Hobson business, a store and a post office, in a small frame building. Later he added a general store, a cotton gin, a lumberyard, and a gristmill. A. W. McCall built a brick kiln there, and a Dr. Simon practiced medicine and built a hospital that was later used as a parochial school. Another thriving business was Kowalik's General Store. Hobson was composed largely of people of Czech, German, and Polish descent. In 1915 the community had seven businesses and a population of 100. The town reached a peak reported population of 175 in the early 1950s. In 1990 it reported a population of 135. At that time Hobson had St. Boniface Catholic Church, a post office, a community hall, and four businesses. In 2000 there were eight businesses, however the population remained the same.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert H. Thonhoff, History of Karnes County (M.A. thesis, Southwest Texas State College, 1963).
