Hopewell is a thoroughly-dead place. Known for a brief time as Fravel, it once had a blacksmith, general store, lumberyard, hardware store and a hotel According to this excellent website there was once a railroad but I was unable to detect the grade either in person or from satellite imagery. There also was nothing listed on the USGS topographic map or on the 19th-century map available from Skyways.
Where most of Hopewell's residents are today. Quite frankly, I didn't realize I had passed the remains of the town until I came up on this cemetary a little ways down the road.
A common sight in Hopewell. When was the last day a person lived here?
Abandoned church.
The abandoned church with a pile of furniture left to rot in the elements. When was the last service held here?
Apparently the only resident these days is some kind of scrap metal enthusiast.
Some of the corrugated metal sheets on the roof have been peeled back from high winds.
The primary residents of Hopewell these days. I heard these things when I was taking pictures in town and couldn't for the life of me figure out what I was hearing in the distance.
On the fence penning the sheep is this pair of coyotes. I'm not sure why-- is it a deterrent for other coyotes?
Hopewell serves as a reminder that there are many ghost towns in Kansas where absolutely nothing remains. In this regard, Hopewell isn't far off.
My wife and I attended the Hopewell Friends Church there in 1971-1975 when we were students at Barclay College (Haviland, KS.) We pastored the church then for two more years. The parsonage was right south of the meetinghouse (church building) when we lived there in 1975-1977. When we moved to Nebraska, we left a great group of people whom we deeply loved. The average morning attendance was in the mid 30s when wee left but the Meeting (Church) closed some time later. I hate to see how it is decaying.
ReplyDeleteMy mother grew up in the area. My great-granddad homesteaded nearby and my mom's family attended the Hopewell church for many years before transferring membership to the Haviland Friends church. It is a shame to see such deterioration in the old farmsteads and towns.
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