Hobson City, AL

Hobson City is a Calhoun County town with a place in Alabama history that is bigger than its size. Incorporated in 1899, it was the state's first municipality governed by African Americans from its founding. The community began as Mooree Quarters, a settlement associated with Black residents living near the growing industrial towns of Anniston and Oxford. Creating a town government gave local residents a way to manage streets, schools, services, and civic decisions on their own terms.

The town's name honors Silas Moore, a formerly enslaved landowner and community leader who helped shape the settlement. Hobson City's position between Oxford to the south and Anniston to the north keeps it tied to the larger Calhoun County corridor, but its own story remains distinct. Historic preservation, oral history, churches, homes, and projects such as the Photovoices work with the University of Alabama keep the town's Black civic tradition in view. Hobson City is a place where municipal history is not a plaque on the wall; it is part of how residents describe the community and its future.