Brief history of James Hodgkins
(Published Sep. 19, 2002, NW Times-Record)

In 1906 a man named Jim ("James") Hodgkins purchased 240 acres to farm in northwest Tarrant County. After completion of Lake Worth, he decided that instead of farming, he would open Hodgkins’ Trading Post, which stayed on the same hill where the Coconut Grove Nightclub came to stand, the present site of the Coconut Grove Beer Barn.

The Hodgkins Trading Post was the first business establishment in the Lake Worth community and came to be the focal point for the handful of the community’s residents. Hodgkins Trading Post had the only telephone in town, and he would call people to the telephone with a bullhorn. As the small community began to grow, Hodgkins also assisted in educational matters. Public education for children was a lifetime interest of Mr. Hodgkins,and the question of education for the town came up. At that time, children attended classes at rural schools such as Wayside or Lone Star (near Azle) or in Fort Worth. Since there were no schools or bus service, he would drive the children to the Fort Worth schools in his truck every day. In 1923, with the help of Sam Rosen, he opened the area’s first school with 23 students, a one room store building in what was then known as the Rosen Heights Independent School District. The Coconut Grove Nightclub was opened by Earl Hodgkins, son of Jim Hodgkins in 1937, on the same ground where the old Hodgkin’s Trading Post was located, where the old Coconut Grove Beer Barn stood, at Jacksboro Hwy and Foster.