Hopewell Baptist Church

A congregational history on the Navarro County site fills in the church's early years. The first business meeting, on August 30, 1866, took the name Hopewell Church and chose three deacons. The members bought three acres from a widow named Stroder in 1867 at three dollars an acre, met in homes until the building was finished late in 1868, and held the first service there in January 1869. In November 1906 they voted to move to the new townsite of Navarro, where theirs was among the first buildings. Membership peaked near 130 twice.

What the plaque says

Hopewell Baptist Church Organized on August 2, 1866, Hopewell Baptist Church was founded by ten charter members: Emily Meador, Thomas Meador, Elizabeth Ann Meador, John M. Tate, Mary Tate, Eleanor D. Bright, Eleanor Crabb Bright, Sarah McDonnell, the Rev. Hardeman Royster Puryear, and Caroline Adams Puryear. The first worship service was a protracted meeting of several days, during which 15 new members joined the church. The Rev. Mr. Puryear was called as the church's first pastor. The congregation purchased three acres of land in the summer of 1867, and by November 1868 their first sanctuary was completed. Located adjacent to the present Hopewell Cemetery, the building served the congregation at that site for four decades. After the townsite of Navarro was laid out along the Trinity and Brazos Valley Rail Line, the congregation voted to relocate and the church building was moved in 1907. The only church in the community, Hopewell Baptist has continued steadfast over the years. After a 1939 wind storm damaged the sanctuary, it was rebuilt near the original site. Hopewell Baptist Church remains an important part of the area's history. (1990)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroleum Industry Park — 7.9 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 15 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.

More markers nearby

• Hopewell Cemetery — 1.8 mi
• Air Activities of Texas, Corsicana Field — 2.1 mi
• Angus Schoolhouse — 3.3 mi
• Home of Whitney Montgomery, Poet — 5.3 mi