HOMETOWN HISTORY

The Dublin Historical Museum, a collection of Dublin memorabilia and history courtesy of the Dublin Historical Society, has a mission – “to preserve, present, and promote the history of Dublin, Texas.” The collection includes archival photographs, a church organ, antique signs, a wooden wagon, farming implements, a comic book collection, and an antique paper doll collection. Of particular interest is the museum’s exhibit on professional American golfer Ben Hogan, born in nearby Stephenville on August 13, 1912 and local Dubliner until the age of nine. Hogan is considered one of the greatest players in golf history and an influential force in developing the “ideal” golf swing.

Dublin, established in 1854, may have been named for the Irish city but its founder, A. H. Dobkins, appears to be Scottish, thus it could just as easily have been a conflation of the term “double-in”, a warning cry settlers used during frontier conflicts. The arrival of the Texas Central Railroad to the region in 1881 required Dublin to relocate a few miles away, creating a “new” Dublin and site of the present-day community.