A Tribute to Tomball: A Pictorial History of the Tomball Area Page: 118

                                
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David Wayne, 1964.

DAVID WAYNE
HOOKS MEMORIAL
AIRPORT
Largest Privately Owned
Airport in the Nation

Aurora Coleman Hooks

Hooks Family, 1960's. David Wayne, Charles III, Irma,
Katherine, Charles Jr., and Robert.

J. W. Hobson Home built on the property in the 1890's.

"Man's destiny is in the Air."
One of the most interesting historical sites in the Tomball
area is the property owned by the Hooks family, known as
Hookswood. It is on part of this land that busy David Wayne
Hooks Memorial Airport is located.
In 1831, Elizabeth Smith was given title by Stephen F. Austin
to one league of land along Willow Creek. Following the
widow Smith, certain owners of part of the land that is now in-
cluded in Hookswood were S. F. Davis, who in 1871 donated
one acre of land to the church and cemetery on Willow Creek,
and J. V. Engleman, who bought Davis' land. The Hooks gave
additional land to the cemetery association later.
Owners of another major portion of the land that now com-
prises Hookswood were the J. W. Hobsons. J. W. Hobson was
the father of Winnie Mahaffey, wife of the late Charles Mahaf-
fey, Sr. and of Selma Mahaffey, wife of R. O. Mahaffey. J. W.
Hobson, Jr. acquired this property along Willow Creek pro-
bably in the 1890's. Mr. Hobson was a justice of the peace and a
county commissioner of Harris County. It was during his tenure
that Stuebner-Airline Road was laid out.
J. W. Hobson built in the 1890's the two-story, Virginia style
farmhouse that still stands today on Hookswood, near the
original site of the Elizabeth Smith residence. Hobson's five
daughters were all born on this property. His wife, Katherine,
died in the two-story house during the terrible storm of
September, 1900, while giving birth to the youngest Hobson
daughter. Pine trees were cut from the woods along Willow
Creek to shore up the house during the raging storm.
Charles G. Hooks, Sr. and his wife, the former Aurora Ann
Coleman, bought the original part of Hookswood in 1929. Ad-
jacent acreage has been added over the years. In 1949, Charles
Jr. and Irma Hooks built a house on Hookswood, in which they
have resided since. Their four children - Charles III, David,
Robert and Katherine - grew up at Hookswood and attended
the Tomball public schools and the University of Texas in
Austin.
In 1963, Charles Hooks, Jr. had begun building what was
then named the Houston Northwest Airport on the far south
end of the Hookswood property. In 1967, the young airport
was renamed the David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport in
honor of David Wayne Hooks who was killed in a flying acci-
dent five days before his sixteenth birthday. Since 1967 the air-
port has undergone phenomenal growth. This memorial to
David is a family operated business.
Today the Hooks Airport bases about 650 aircraft from
single engine to corporate jets. The airport is reported to be
the largest privately owned airport in the nation. There is an
FAA control tower that deals with the present 250,000 annual
aircraft movements.
Hookswood encompasses the old and the new. While the
south part of the property accommodates the fast-growing
general aviation industry, the original, history-rich part of the
land spanning Willow Creek is maintained in its original state,
one of the few historic sites in the area that has kept its
integrity.

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Charles G. Hooks, Sr.