Hope, Indiana

Hope, Indiana
Town
Northside of public square
Location in the state of Indiana
Coordinates: 39°18′0″N 85°46′15″W / 39.30000°N 85.77083°W / 39.30000; -85.77083Coordinates: 39°18′0″N 85°46′15″W / 39.30000°N 85.77083°W / 39.30000; -85.77083
Country	United States
State	Indiana
County	Bartholomew
Township	Haw Creek
Area
• Total	0.95 sq mi (2.46 km2)
• Land	0.95 sq mi (2.46 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0 km2)
Elevation	715 ft (218 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	2,102
• Estimate (2012)	2,147
• Density	2,212.6/sq mi (854.3/km2)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EST (UTC-5)
ZIP code	47246
Area code(s)	812
FIPS code	18-34744
GNIS feature ID	0436432

Hope is a town in Haw Creek Township, Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States, known for its historic character. The population was 2,102 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Columbus, Indiana, metropolitan statistical area.

The first settlement at Hope was made in 1830 by a colony of Moravians (people of the Protestant Moravian denomination) from Salem, North Carolina (now Winston-Salem), led by the Rev. Martin Hauser, after whom the town high school is named. Although a 1905 source claimed that the town was named for the optimistic spirit of its Moravian pioneer settlers, "Hope" is a common name for religious settlements, denoting hope in God's favor and the resurrection. The town was originally named Goshen, after the Biblical Goshen, but upon the establishment of a post office in 1834 the name was changed to Hope, as Indiana already had a town named Goshen. The town was founded to be a communal settlement like that of the two prominent Moravian settlements in the United States, Salem, North Carolina and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The model for these did not work for a farming community like Hope, and early on the decision was made to end community property and allow residents to own their own land. Soon thereafter the town was also opened to non-Moravians.

In the middle of the nineteenth century a Moravian day school was opened in Hope, and soon thereafter it was decided that the school should be transformed into a boarding school for young women, under the auspices of the Moravian Church. Guidance and funds were provided from the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Hope Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies opened in 1866. A building, a house for the Principal and his family, and extensive grounds were situated on what is now Seminary Street. The school was run for thirteen years by the Rev. Francis R. Holland and his wife Augusta Holland, with a number of teachers, and offered a wide program of study, including Latin, English, French, German, Music, Drawing, Mathematics, Geography, History, and Natural History. Students came from a number of midwestern states. With so many teachers, the school had trouble making ends meet, and in 1879 the Bethlehem elders sent a second principal, the Rev. Jesse Blickensdorfer, to replace the first, in the hope that he could make the school profitable. He reduced the number of teachers to two, but this effort also failed and the seminary was closed in 1881. In later years the buildings were used for a Normal School, and then finally torn down. All that remains of the school are elaborate iron gates on the western side of Main Street, given by alumnae of the school in memory of the nature walks led by the Rev. Holland in the Spring Woods, entered where the gates stand.