If you haven’t lived in Hobbs for 10 to 15 years, you wouldn’t recognize it. The north Navajo Road bypass from Dal Paso to the Lovington Highway has most all businesses now including major chain hotels. North Grimes approaching Navajo has new shops all the way. north to Del Norte Park. The two south corners at Millen and the Lovington Highway are occupied by a new Hospital and the CORE recreational center, and the Lea County Event Center on the NW corner is ungoing a $59 million dollar renovation.
Then there are the three new elementary schools (two replaced outdated buildings) and two new middle schools currently under construction. The high school built an entirely new campus for vocational trade learning that was dedicated by Mike Rowe a couple of years ago. New homes are under construction on the east, north and west sides of the city. Amazon has a brand new distribution center north of the old hospital (soon to be torn down) and FedEx is completing expansion of their ship center. There are now daily flights to Houston and Denver and flights to Dallas Love Field too. All of this is supported mostly by O&G activity and the uranium recycling facility in Eunice. Lea County alone produces over a million barrels per day of crude oil helping New Mexico remain as #2 in domestic production. And this growth is what Santa Fe loves to hate because both industries are viewed as not-environmentally friendly and they prefer windmills and solar panels for electrical generation.
Lol.. naw, it’s been over 40 years since I’ve been there.
My grandfather passed away (he owned a boot shop there, and had been making boots since WWII). My grandmother had passed away a few years before him.
Great aunts and uncles in Seminole, and great grandparents in Tatum.
I doubt any of them are still around...
BTW, I used to go to the baseball fields (East Hobbs?) (when visiting my granddad, he lived right down the street from the fields) to go scoping for nice looking chicks, lol.
Back then, it was on the very outskirts of Hobbs.. was still mostly pasture.
Don’t forget the propane/butane production from the Delaware Basin, northward.
$$$$