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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. |
