Hondo

Duane's take

The way I heard it told, it came straight off an official Texas Historical Commission marker, so let me pass it along true. Now, out here in Medina County, the story of Hondo starts the way a lot of good Texas stories do: with somebody passing through. Spanish explorers came this way several times across the centuries before Anglo settlement ever took root.

And somewhere along the route, they gave a name to a creek. El Arroyo Hondo, they called it. The original village that would become Hondo grew up right there along those banks.

Then came the 1840s, and with them came Henri Castro, leading the first permanent settlers into the area. A community began to take shape. Now, by the late nineteenth century, the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad, the GH&SA, was casting an eye toward this busy little village on Hondo Creek.

They were thinking depot. A railroad depot changes everything, and the GH&SA knew it. But here is where the story gets interesting.

They did not pick the village. They picked a spot five miles to the west. One hundred and eighty-eight acres of new ground.

The first deeds were executed in 1881, a post office for Hondo City was approved in 1882, and the railroad was already thinking several moves ahead. See, word was going around that Medina County's seat might be moved from Castroville to somewhere more central. So in 1883, the GH&SA donated land outright for a courthouse.

Whether that was civic generosity or shrewd real estate thinking, well, the marker doesn't say. What the marker does say is that it worked. The county seat was relocated to Hondo City in 1892.

By the early twentieth century the town, known by then simply as Hondo, had grown into a trade center and a cotton shipping point. Then the 1920s brought oil discovery in the area, and the population kept climbing steady with the commerce. By 1940, Hondo counted twenty-five hundred souls.

And then came 1942. The population of Hondo did not grow in 1942. It exploded.

An Army Air Corps base was built to the northwest. The town was incorporated that same year. The federal government stepped in with educational funds and put in a sewage system just to keep up with the boom.

At its peak, Hondo held an estimated twelve thousand people. Twelve thousand, in a town that had been twenty-five hundred just two years before. Then 1946 came, and the base closed.

But the story did not end there. The facility kept on as a civilian pilot training center all through the 1950s. Hondo grew steadily through the late twentieth century.

By 1998, its population stood at more than eight thousand. El Arroyo Hondo. A Spanish name, a railroad's calculated gamble, an army base that turned a trade town into a small city overnight.

The boom faded, but Hondo held on, and the community, as the marker says, continues to thrive.

What the marker says

Spanish explorers passed this way several times in the centuries preceding Anglo settlement of the area. The original village that would become Hondo was situated on "El Arroyo Hondo," named by the Spanish. Permanent settlers to the area began arriving with Henri Castro in the 1840s. The Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio (GH&SA) Railroad began to consider the busy village on Hondo Creek for the location of a depot in the late 19th century. They ultimately chose 188 acres five miles west of the town. The first deeds were executed in 1881. A post office for Hondo City was approved in 1882. Knowing that the county seat might be moved from Castroville to a more central location, the GH&SA donated land for a courthouse in 1883. The county seat was relocated to Hondo City in 1892. In the early 20th century the town, by then known simply as Hondo, developed as a trade center and cotton shipping point. Oil was discovered in the area in the 1920s. The population grew steadily with commerce; by 1940 it reached 2,500. The town's population exploded in 1942 when an Army Air Corps base was built to the northwest. Hondo was incorporated that year and the federal government provided educational funds and installed a sewage system to accommodate the boom. At its peak Hondo had an estimated population of 12,000. The base was closed in 1946, but continued to operate as a civilian pilot training center through the 1950s. Hondo grew steadily in the late 20th century. Its population in 1998 was more than 8,000. The community continues to thrive. (1999) Incise on base: Dr. John and Mrs. Gail Meyer, J. A. Guedea Rios