New Hope Baptist Church

In the years before 1865, some blacks in Waco worshiped at the city's first baptist church. In 1866 the congregation's pastor, Baylor University President Dr. Rufus Burleson with the Rev.S.G. O'Bryan and Dr. Richard Burleson, organized a black church with 18 members. It was named the New Hope Baptist Church by its first pastor, the Rev. Stephen Cobb. During its early years the congregation held services in an old foundry, at the Howard Institute, and in a building shared with a local Methodist Church. One of the oldest black Baptist churches in Waco, the congregation has met at this site since 1923.