DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. August 2, 1866. Ten people gathered with something to build — not just a congregation, but a foundation.
Their names deserve saying out loud: Emily Meador, Thomas Meador, Elizabeth Ann Meador, John M. Tate, Mary Tate, Eleanor D. Bright, Eleanor Crabb Bright, Sarah McDonnell, the Reverend Hardeman Royster Puryear, and Caroline Adams Puryear.
Ten charter members. That's all it takes, sometimes, to start something that outlasts everyone in the room. Now, you might expect the first worship service to be a quiet, solemn Sunday morning affair.
It was not. It was a protracted meeting — several days long — and before it was over, fifteen new members had joined. The church had more than doubled before the doors had barely swung open.
The Reverend Puryear was called as the first pastor, and the congregation got to work. In the summer of 1867 they purchased three acres of land, and by November of 1868 — a little over two years from that founding day — their first sanctuary stood complete, right next door to what is now the Hopewell Cemetery. That building served the congregation on that same ground for four decades.
Four decades. Then the world shifted, as it does. The townsite of Navarro was laid out along the Trinity and Brazos Valley Rail Line, and the congregation voted to follow it.
In 1907, they moved the church building itself — picked it up and carried it. That's a certain kind of commitment right there. And still the story wasn't done.
In 1939 a wind storm damaged the sanctuary. They rebuilt it, near the original site. One church, one community, more than a century and a half of holding on.
Hopewell Baptist Church — ten people, one meeting, and a whole lot of years they refused to quit.
What the marker says
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.