Verhalen

HOBAN, TEXAS . Hoban is five miles northeast of Verhalen on State Highway 17 and the Pecos Valley Southern Railway in east central Reeves County. In August 1583 the entrada of Antonio de Espejo camped at a Jumano ranchería near what is now the site of Hoban. The community formed after Reeves County was organized from Pecos County in 1884. Hoban was named for the Reverend Joseph Hoban, a Carmelite priest, who in 1901 came to St. Catherine's Catholic Church, Pecos, as the first resident clergy. He also served churches in surrounding towns, traveling by train, buggy, and horseback. The Hoban spur on the Pecos Valley Southern line was also named for the respected priest, who left the area in 1906. In the 1930s the town had a few scattered dwellings near the rail line. The 1972 county highway map showed a factory near the Hoban site.