New Hope Baptist Church #3
Caddo, Stephens County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Thirty former members of the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church organized the New Hope Baptist Church #3 in 1893 with The Rev. C.J. McDonald serving as its first pastor. The congregation shared facilities with its parent church until 1899 when they built a sanctuary on two acres acquired from J.C. and Laura Bargsley. The sanctuary was destroyed by fire in 1902 and replaced by a new building. Church members met once a month until 1948 when a full-time pastor was called. In 1993 the congregation celebrated its 100th year of service to the rural LaCasa community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1893, thirty members broke away from the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church to organize New Hope Baptist Church #3, with the Rev. C.J. McDonald as their first pastor. They worshiped alongside their parent congregation until 1899, when they built a sanctuary on two donated acres, only to see it burn in 1902 and be rebuilt. For decades the church gathered just once a month before calling a full-time pastor in 1948, and it marked a full century of service to the rural LaCasa community in 1993.
Why it matters
Small rural congregations like this one were the social and spiritual backbone of scattered Texas farming settlements, holding communities together long after their crossroads faded from the map.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Rural Texas in the early 1890s was still being settled, farm by farm. In counties like Stephens, west of Fort Worth, families raised crops and livestock on scattered homesteads, and small communities formed around whatever pulled neighbors together: a school, a store, a cemetery, and above all a church.
For many of these communities, faith life looked very different from a town church with a pastor in residence. Preachers often served several congregations and rode a circuit between them, so a country church might gather for preaching once a month. Members still met, prayed, and supported one another, but they planned their spiritual calendar around the preacher's visits.
Baptist congregations multiplied across Texas in this period. They were self-governing, so when a church grew or members lived too far from the meeting house, a group could simply organize a new congregation. Many Texas churches trace their beginnings to a friendly split like this one.
The twentieth century brought big changes to Stephens County. An oil boom in the late 1910s transformed parts of the region, and later decades brought mechanized farming and steady migration to the cities. Many small rural communities shrank. The churches that survived often became the main thing keeping those communities' identity alive.
People & events
New Hope Baptist Church #3 began in 1893, when thirty members of the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church set out to form a congregation of their own. Their first pastor was the Rev. C.J. McDonald, who led the young church in its earliest years.
The new congregation did not have to start from nothing. For its first several years it shared facilities with Macedonia, the church it came from. This arrangement was common among rural Baptists: a new church could grow while still leaning on the one that sent it out.
In 1899 the congregation got its own home. Members built a sanctuary on two acres acquired from J.C. and Laura Bargsley. Three years later, in 1902, fire destroyed it. Fire was a constant danger for wooden country churches, and many congregations faced the same loss. New Hope rebuilt.
For more than half a century the church met once a month, a rhythm that reflects how hard it was to keep a preacher in a sparsely settled area. In 1948 the congregation called a full-time pastor, a sign of commitment and of a church able to support one. In 1993 the members celebrated one hundred years of service to the rural LaCasa community.
Its place in the American story
Across rural America, churches like New Hope were among the most durable institutions people built. Stores closed, schools consolidated, and post offices disappeared, but a congregation could outlast all of them. In many places the church is the only remaining sign that a named community existed.
New Hope's history also shows how independent American Protestantism spread. Baptist churches governed themselves, and a group of believers could organize a new congregation without permission from a distant authority. That flexibility helped Baptist churches multiply as settlement moved west, and it made them a strong presence in Texas and across the South.
The shift from monthly meetings to a full-time pastor in 1948 reflects broader changes in rural life after World War II. Better roads, cars, and a more connected countryside made it possible for small congregations to sustain more regular ministry.
A century-old country church is a reminder that much of American history happened in places too small for most maps: homesteads and crossroads where people built lasting community.
If you visit
New Hope Baptist Church #3 serves a rural community, so treat it as an active place of worship, not a museum. Be respectful of services and private property, and read the marker quietly.
Take in the setting. The open country around Caddo shows how spread out a farming community like LaCasa would have been, and why a shared meeting place mattered so much. Picture families arriving by wagon on the one Sunday a month the preacher came, and staying to visit long after the service.
Think, too, about the church's own timeline: shared quarters, a first sanctuary lost to fire, a rebuilding, and a hundred years of continuity. Few small buildings carry that much community memory.
Caddo is in the rolling country west of Fort Worth. Stops like this one, quick but meaningful, reward travelers who like to leave the interstate and wander the back roads of North Central Texas.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · C.J. McDonald
Themes & tags
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