DUANE
Duane's take
The way I tell it, this one comes straight off the official marker for the Hogan Blacksmith Shop in Erath County. Now settle in, because this story starts with a war and ends with a legend — and the thread connecting them is a man who knew how to work metal. William Alexander Hogan rode as a C.S.A.
Cavalry Blacksmith, and when the fighting was done, he didn't stay put. After 1870 he loaded up his family, left Mississippi behind, and pointed toward Texas — specifically a town called Dublin. And Dublin was ready for a man with his skills.
The railroads were pulling cattle ranchers and cotton farmers into that country in growing numbers, and all of them needed iron work. So William opened a blacksmith shop right there on Elm Street. The anvil rang, the fire burned, and the business took root.
His son Chester picked up where William left off and kept the family trade alive. Then along came Chester's son — a boy named Ben. Ben grew up around that shop.
He frequented the place, watched the fire, felt the heat, learned by being there what metal can do and how a man's hands can shape it. But Ben Hogan was destined for another path entirely. He caddied at age eleven, and from that small beginning he developed into a world champion golfer.
Now here's the part that ought to stop you cold: Ben used blacksmithing skills to modify his own golf clubs. What he had absorbed in that Dublin shop — the science and the art of working metal — he carried it with him all the way to the top of the game. In 1953, Ben Hogan opened his own club manufacturing plant, and he credited what he had learned from his grandfather and his father in the Hogan Blacksmith Shop.
The family held that land for generations, all the way until 1997, when they donated it to the city of Dublin. A cavalry blacksmith's hammer, swung long enough, can echo across a century. That land in Dublin is proof.
What the marker says
William Alexander Hogan, a former C.S.A. Cavalry Blacksmith, brought his family from Mississippi to Dublin after 1870. With railroads drawing cattle ranchers and cotton farmers in growing numbers, William opened a blacksmith shop on Elm Street. His son, Chester, continued the family business. Chester’s son, Ben, frequented the shop but was destined for another path. He caddied at age 11 and developed into a world champion golfer. Ben used blacksmithing skills to modify his golf clubs, and in 1953 opened his own club manufacturing plant, using what he learned about the science and art of metal from his grandfather and father in the Hogan Blacksmith Shop. The Hogan family held the land until 1997, when they donated it to the city of Dublin.