DOBROWOLSKI, TEXAS. Dobrowolski was on State Highway 97 six miles southwest of Jourdanton in west central Atascosa County. The settlement, originally called Tobey (Toby), had a post office from 1894 until 1919 and was still indicated on county maps as late as the 1940s. Tobey was named for Thomas Toby, a land speculator in the area around 1858; he was said to have managed a large ranch in New Orleans. In 1896 the population in Tobey was 200; that year the town had a general store, a gin, and a music teacher. In 1904 the school had thirty-eight students and one teacher. The number of students increased to sixty-five by 1913 and eighty-one in 1934, when the school had two teachers. The school was consolidated with the Charlotte school around 1936. The Tobey post office was closed in 1919.

A post office named Dobrowolski opened at the site in 1920 and operated until 1934. It was named for Alec Dobrowolski, who sold farm land in the area. In 1925 the population was listed as fifty. It dropped to twenty-five in the early 1930s, rose to a high of seventy-five in 1939, and dropped to fifteen in the 1960s. It was reported at ten from 1970 through 2000. By the 1980s only a few scattered dwellings remained at the site, which was no longer named on highway maps.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Atascosa County Centennial, 1856-1956 (Jourdanton, Texas: Atascosa County Centennial Association, n.d.). Margaret G. Clover, The Place Names of Atascosa County (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1952). Janie Foster, History of Education in Atascosa County (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1936).

Linda Peterson