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  Texas : Towns A-Z / Ghost Towns / East Texas :

HOPEWELL, TEXAS

Texas Ghost Town

The largest Magnolia tree in Texas - "you can't miss it."
Smith County, East Texas
Highway 69
4 miles N of Tyler and just N of Swan, Texas

Population: Unknown

Book Your Hotel Here & Save
Tyler Hotels

Texas largest magnolia tree trunk
The Hopewell Magnolia
on the southwest corner of the Hopewell Baptist Church cemetery.

(Scale provided by Roland)
Photo Courtesy Collin Colston, 2004
History in a Pecan Shell

Hopewell began with the granting of its post office in 1887 and it may have thrived if the International-Great Northern Railroad hadn't bypassed it. The town lost both the railroad and the post office when nearby Swan got both.

To add insult to injury, most of the congregation of Hopewell's Baptist Church also moved to Swan to form the Swan Baptist Church.

In 1903 Hopewell's 132 students were taught by 3 teachers in two schools. In the 1920s the school had two-stories and a severely depleted enrollment.

In the mid 1930s Hopewell had a church, school, and two cemeteries. Nearby schools were merged into a single ISD and that in turn was merged with the Lindale ISD in the 60s.

Only the church, and cemeteries remain but the town is not shown on TxDoT maps of Smith County. But Swan is.
Texas largest magnolia tree limb
Rebecca tests the strength of a limb.

Photo Courtesy Collin Colston, 2004
Hopewell has managed to hold onto one thing that Swan didn't get - a huge Magnolia Tree that is said to be the largest in Texas.

See also County Line Magnolia

© John Troesser

Hopewell Texas Forum

  • Subject: Large Magnolia tree
    I just found your site and am thoroughly enjoying reading about everything Texas. I saw your story on the "County Line Magnolia" in Liberty County that was vandalized years ago.

    We have a Magnolia here just outside of Tyler that is supposedly the biggest in Texas. It is in the Hopewell community behind Tyler Pipe Industries. Don't know if you have heard about it or not. I'm attaching a photograph. Don't mind the strange looking fruit growing off the tree. - Sincerely, Collin Colston, March 05, 2004

    Anyone wanting to share stories or photos of life in Hopewell, Texas, please contact us.

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    This page last modified: July 3, 2007