New Hope Missionary Baptist Church

The congregation's own history, compiled from members' memories, says the Rev. Louis Holloway and seven members founded New Hope in 1893 as the first church serving Black residents of downtown Gladewater. The first funeral, for Sylvia Perry in 1896, was led by Holloway. After neighbors complained about noise from the first revival, led by the Rev. Riley Miller, the church moved to its present site. Bot Johnson was the first deacon and for a long time the only one. Pastors include Garfield Walker in 1934 and N. D. George in 1968.

What the plaque says

New Hope Missionary Baptist Church After emancipation, the organization of churches by former slaves formed not only a house for worship but also a center for the economic, political and social aspects of the community. In 1893, some of the members of Saint James Missionary Baptist church in the Red Rock Community (near Gladewater) moved downtown seeking employment opportunities. Soon, reverend Louis Holoway and seven others founded a church congregation under a brush arbor. The founding members were Peter Lee, Matt Perry, Elnora Turner, Della Perry, Celia Johnson, Lou Johnson and Mollie Daniels. Around 1896, the first church building, a small one-room building, was erected near the fork of the old Tyler highway (South Main St.). In 1911, the first church building was torn down and the congregation relocated to its present location on Roden Lane. In addition to religious priorities, education of African American children was also important to the church. The first African American school in Gladewater was held in the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church building. Over the years, the congregation and the church expanded with renovations in 1934, 1950 and 1968. In an effort to broaden their reach, additional Sunday worship services were added as well as radio broadcasts. Through community outreach, assistance, foreign and local ministries, and disaster relief, the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church has been a beacon of hope to the community for more than a century. These east Texas pioneers made it possible for the African American community to worship and gather. (2013)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• East Texas Oil Museum — 11 mi
  A Kilgore College museum that rebuilds the 1930s oil boom in a full-scale Boomtown with a general store, drugstore and newspaper office, plus dioramas, films and antiques given by East Texans.
• Tyler State Park — 20 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 20 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 21 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.

More markers nearby

• John Ben Shepperd — 0.4 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Gladewater — 0.5 mi
• Gladewater Lodge No. 852, A.F. & A.M. — 0.5 mi
• Rosedale Cemetery — 1.0 mi