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Rebuilt church to be dedicated Sunday
The current church was partially destroyed by a tornado in 2004 that deavasted much of the Chilton community. A dedication service will be held this Sunday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend the brief program. A fellowship time for remembering and visiting will be held afterwards in the fellowship hall. According to church historian Joyce White Burrrage, a brusharbor was the first place of worship in the area sometime before 1857. Later, the Mitcham Meeting House was built, somewhere in the pineywoods area north of Chilton. It was named for Dr. Mitcham, a preacher in the area. Mitcham Beat was established in 1859 and was also named for Dr. Mitcham. The meeting house served as both a school and church and was possibly located where the “schoolhouse field” is today. In the early church minutes, the words “Meeting House” was scratched out and substituted with “church.” The name “Hopewell” was probably not established until 1857, when “Hopewell Baptist Church was constituted April 18, 1857, by Hiram Creighton, L. L. DeWitt, William Russell, and W. Hill, - first pastor,” according to church minutes. A log church building was built that year near the Jesse White house on Reedy Hill Road. The log church was relocated betwee 1870-1872 to a location west of present church and it served as both a church and school. A new frame church building was built 1887 after a 10-day revival under a brush-arbor erected especially for the occasion. The old log church was laterd moved and became the home of William and Polly Hall Edge. It was later known as the Clare McIntyre place. The current church was built in 1949 in its present location on Highway 154. That is the building that was partially destroyed by the 2004 storm. The Alabama Baptist Association provided a mobile home for church members to use after the storm and while the building was built rebuilt. Services resumed on Easter Sunday, 2006 in the present renovated building.
Hopewell Baptist Church is nearly 150 years old and going strong.
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