New Hope

New Hope, also known as Gum Creek, is on Farm Road 747 thirteen miles northwest of Rusk in central Cherokee County. The area was first settled in the early 1850s and was known alternately as New Hope and as Gum Creek; the latter was the name of a Baptist church, founded around the time of the Civil War, which served as the focus of the community. The church was also used as a school until 1897, when a new schoolhouse was constructed. Just after World War I, J. W. Linkenhoker built near the church and school a small store, which he continued to operate during the 1920s. During the mid-1930s the community reported one business and seven residents. Its school was consolidated with that of Jacksonville in 1973, and in 1984 the school building burned. During the early 1990s only the New Hope Baptist Church and a few scattered houses remained in the area. In 2000 the population was fifty.