Texas Historical Marker #11672
Site of Hitson Community. Ranchers John and William Hittson were among the first to settle in this area in about 1870; the area around their homes became known as Hittson or Hitson. Fisher County was created in 1876, and settlement began to increase. A post office opened in 1885. A school began operation in 1888 and by 1896 Hitson had a general store operated by C. W. Morris as well as a Methodist church. The Hittson brothers were the major landowners in the area, but the community included a number of large farming families who cleared the fertile land and planted crops. Though the post office was moved to Swedonia in 1906, the community of Hitson continued to grow. Oil was discovered in the area after World War I, providing an additional means of income for the townspeople as well as the Hitson school for a time. In 1925 there were 32 families with 120 school-age children living in the area. By 1940 the town had a school, a church, three businesses and scattered dwellings. As was the case in many small towns across Texas and the U.S. during World War II, most of the town's young people enlisted in the armed forces or moved to cities to take part in the war effort. With their labor force thus depleted, Hitson farmers were unable to survive. Small family farms were sold to larger enterprises. Most of the new owners lived in nearby Hamlin or Rotan. Hitson school was consolidated with Hamlin schools in 1947; the white frame church building used by the Hitson Baptist Church was moved to Roby in 1959 and by the end of the 20th century all that remained of the community were a few homes and a cemetery. (2000) #11672
?, Rotan vicinity, TX, United States
Texas Historical Marker #11683
Hobbs Independent School District. The first school in what would become the Hobbs community was known as Buffalo and taught in a tent on Buffalo Creek from 1887 to 1888. The Rev. Robert Martin erected a church and schoolhouse on the site with funds from his home church in Louisiana. By 1896 the school was named for Vachel Hobbs Anderson, postmaster at Roby, and had changed locations several times. J. W. Hale became county school superintendent in 1922. His efforts contributed to the voters' decision to consolidate the Hobbs, Dallas, Grady and Baird common school districts in 1924. The new district, known as Hobbs Consolidated Common School District No. 18, united the four districts. The new eleven-grade Hobbs school facility opened in 1925. With additions and annexations in ensuing years, Hobbs grew from 85 square miles to 240, combining many schools: Guinn, Sardis, Lone Star, Buffalo, Claytonville, Camp Springs, County Line, Capitola, Sam Bone, Busby, Barronview, Plainview, Cottonwood, Bush, Lone Valley, Midway, Gannoway, Rico, Busby, Rough Creek, Chicken Foot, Linn, Pyron and others. In the 1930s the Works Progress Administration added the primary, home economics and vocational agricultural buildings to the campus, and grade twelve was added to the course of studies. After World War II the rural population decreased as people migrated to cities. High school enrollment was 380 in the 1940s. A new building was constructed in 1956, a cafeteria in 1969 and a new vocational agricultural building in 1976. The high school was closed in 1980 and, when elementary school enrollment dropped to 13 in the fall of 1989, Hobbs Independent School District was dissolved and annexed to the Roby, Rotan and Snyder districts. (2000) #11683
1317 FM 1614, Rotan vicinity, TX, United States