Hopewell Baptist Church
Denison, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1874 this church was founded to serve the black community of this growing railroad town. Ministers from several Baptist churches in the county helped organize the new fellowship. Some of the charter members transferred from St. John Baptist Church in Preston Bend. In 1877 fire destroyed the congregation's first meeting place. A frame building erected at this site was replaced in 1891 by a brick edifice. The present church was begun in 1915. U. S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall spoke here in 1950, when Hopewell was host to the NAACP Regional Convention. (1977)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Hopewell Baptist Church was founded in 1874 to serve the Black community of the booming railroad town of Denison, with help from ministers across the county and members transferring from St. John Baptist Church in Preston Bend. Fire, growth, and rebuilding carried it from a first meeting place to a frame church, a brick edifice in 1891, and the present building begun in 1915. In 1950 it hosted an NAACP regional convention where future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall spoke.
Why it matters
From Reconstruction founding to a 1950 civil-rights gathering addressed by Thurgood Marshall, the church traces the long arc of African American life and organizing in North Texas.
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Related people
- · Thurgood Marshall
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Terrell High School
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Before 1886, churches and private schools carried the burden of educating Denison's African American children; that year Anderson Public High School opened, and in 1927 the district built a new school at this site named for educator Augustus H. Terrell. Under principals like William Wims and teachers who set high standards, Terrell School became a source of community pride — its maroon-and-white Dragons winning state football championships in the 1940s. In 1946 elementary teacher Sammye Taylor Savage successfully sued for salary equalization across the district, and Terrell's last class graduated in 1967 as integration closed the school.
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Hendrix Cemetery
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Grayson Bible Baptist Church
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