History

New Hope Baptist Church

Founded in 1839

New Hope Baptist has served God and the community of Romulus since its beginning on June 22, 1839. The first building was located just west of the Black Warrior River. It was at a convenient location for the traffic of the pioneers of Tuscaloosa County. The area was growing in population and economic importance and the citizens felt a need for a church that could serve the Christians of the community.

There were 26 members when the church was instituted and the number has increased and changed widely over the years. Virgil W. Barnett was licensed by New Hope in 1879, but died of typhoid fever during the summer before his senior year at Howard College.

In the 1880s, the population of Romulus was about three times as great as the present.

New Hope was received into the Tuscaloosa Baptist Association in 1922.

In 1959, O.J. Gast was the first to be baptized in the New Hope Church baptistry, by Rev. John Lightfoot. John Clayton was the last member baptized in the Sipsey River at Bailey's Bridge in the Jena community.