Mount Hope Methodist Church

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mount Hope Methodist Church in Tyler County. Now settle in, because this one's got roots that go deep and a story that ends quiet, the way a lot of old Texas communities do. Near Russell's Creek, two miles north of where Chester stands today, there was once a place called Mount Hope.

Sitting right where the road from El Orcoquisac to Nacogdoches crossed the old beef trail to the Trinity River. Cross-roads like that have a way of drawing people in. And people came.

Early settler James Barnes moved to Texas in 1836, and he is buried out there in the Mount Hope Cemetery to this day. A post office opened in 1851, run by a man named Hamilton W. Carter, who also ran a general store.

So you had your mail, your goods, your roads converging. Mount Hope had the makings of something. Now, local tradition holds that not long after the Barnes family settled, a traveling English Methodist missionary came through and stopped at the Barnes home.

He conducted what they called an arbor meeting, right there on the land. And from that meeting, grew the Mount Hope Methodist Church. Most likely the first Methodist church in all of Tyler County.

Early gatherings were said to have been held either in a house near where the church now stands, or in a log cabin across Hardy Branch from the Mount Hope Cemetery. The first preacher was County Judge William P. Sansom.

That's right, the county judge was also leading Sunday services. East Texas was a place where a man wore more than one hat. In 1852, Hamilton W.

Carter, same man running the post office and the general store, conveyed one acre of land to the trustees of the Mount Hope Chapel. The deed specified the land be used for a church, a school house, and a masonic lodge. The first building most likely put the school and church on the first floor and the masonic lodge up top, which was, according to the marker, typical of early East Texas communities at the time.

Three institutions, one roof, one acre. That is efficiency. The post office kept running until 1867.

The community kept growing. And then came 1883. The railroad went through Chester.

And it bypassed Mount Hope entirely. Now, a railroad bypass in those days was not a minor inconvenience. It was a verdict.

Most residents relocated to Chester, and the community of Mount Hope ceased to exist. The church, though, held on. The current church building was dedicated in 1910.

And when you sit in it today, you are sitting on the original pews, purchased from Baker's Mill on Wolf Creek in eastern Tyler County. Those pews have outlasted the post office, the general store, the beef trail, and the community itself. The Mount Hope Methodist Church, the marker says, is a reminder of a community that came into being during the advent of Texas Independence and ceased to exist when bypassed by the railroad.

That railroad did not just reroute traffic. It ended a town. But it did not quite finish the church.

Some things, it turns out, are harder to bypass than others.

What the marker says

Mount Hope was near Russell's Creek, two miles north of present-day Chester. At Mount Hope, the road from El Orcoquisac to Nacogdoches intersected the old beef trail to the Trinity River. Early settler James Barnes, who is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery, moved to Texas in 1836. A post office operated in Mount Hope from 1851-67 by Hamilton W. Carter, also proprietor of a general store. After 1883, when the railroad went through Chester and bypassed Mount Hope, the community died. Most residents relocated to Chester. Mount Hope Methodist Church was most likely the First Methodist Church in Tyler County. According to local tradition, a traveling English Methodist missionary stopped at Barnes" home and conducted an arbor meeting not long after they settled. From this meeting grew the Mount Hope Methodist Church. Early meetings were said to have either been held in a house near the present church or in a log cabin across Hardy Branch from Mount Hope Cemetery. The first preacher was County Judge William P. Sansom. In 1852 Hamilton W. Carter conveyed one acre to the trustees of the Mount Hope Chapel. The deed stated that the land be used for a church, school house, and masonic lodge. The first building most likely contained a school/church on the first floor and a masonic lodge on the second, typical of early East Texas communities at the time. The current church building was dedicated in 1910. The original pews, purchased from Baker's Mill on Wolf Creek in eastern Tyler County, are still used in the church. The Mount Hope Methodist Church is a reminder of a community that came into being during the advent of Texas Independence and ceased to exist when bypassed by the railroad.