The Texas Historical Commission awarded Hofmann’s Supply with the Texas Treasure Business Award, an honor which has only been given to two other businesses in the community and is reserved for businesses over 50 years old. The award was presented by Mayor Jane Hughson and the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce.
Don Hofmann is the current owner of the establishment.
“My Dad, in ‘37, he was a welder, and he opened the welding and mechanic shop, and believe it or not they did some body work. They had a contract with the school district to service the school buses when they got dents in them. So, he was diversified. My uncle went to work for Dupont De Nemours during World War II as a paint chemist. He quit after the war,” Don Hofmann said. “He opened up Hofmann’s Paint, so he made his own brand of paint. He kept pestering my Dad. ‘You need to open up a paint store for me in San Marcos.’ So, my Dad did that, and customers would come back to the welding shop and try to buy paint, but he kept the doors locked. He’d say, ‘If these people would leave me alone, I could get my work done.’ He had a serious heart attack in 1959, and I was in the summer of my seventh grade. I was washing dishes for Roland Manske at Manske’s Grill. My Dad couldn’t work for months. They wouldn’t let him, so I went to work in this business in 1959. I’ve been here ever since.”
