The History of our Town

• In late 1829, Martin Hauser left his home in North Carolina to claim his own land here in Indiana
• On April 5, 1830, Hauser sent a messenger to Indianapolis to purchase the 160 acres for the town of Goshen.
• The town was originally named Goshen, in 1834 the name was changed to Hope, as Indiana already had a town named Goshen.
• Hope, Indiana is one of Indiana’s smallest communities to still have its own newspaper. Hope’s community newspaper was established in 1912 when two competing newspapers merged to create one weekly publication—the Hope Star-Journal, this legacy continues with the Hope Star Journal online.
• The post office was actually started in 1834 in John Hager’s general store, which sat on the northeast corner of the town square. Hauser purchased the store from Hager and added the jobs of merchant and postmaster to his roles of farmer and minister for the next 11 years.
• By the year 1833, many new settlers were moving into Goshen. The church had decided to sell the lots of the town to anyone who would like to live there instead of leasing them only to Moravians.
• The Yellow Trail Museum building on the west side of the town square was originally a hardware store. The Weinland Hardware Store was opened on that site in 1849 (some sources say 1853). In 1879 the building was destroyed by fire resulting from an attempted robbery that involved blowing up the only safe in town! The one in the hardware store.
• Back in 1973, a home was being torn down on the property of the Marshal Vogler farm about 2 ½ miles north east of Hope. Inside the building a log cabin was discovered. Eugene “Shiner” Norman, the local mortician, offered to purchase the cabin and have it moved into town. During the dismantling of the cabin the date 1837 was found carved into one of the logs which led everyone to believe that the cabin was originally constructed in that year. The pieces were hauled into Hope and the reconstruction of the cabin began in March of 1974.

Hope Visitors Information Center

Visiting Hope? Make your first stop the Visitor Information Center where friendly staff and volunteers are ready to greet you, answer your questions, provide directions and tell you all the reasons why Hope is such a surprising little town! You can also go online to www.columbus.in.us to see what is in the area!

Location:

Hope Area Visitor Center is located at the
Yellow Trail Museum
644 Main Street
Hope, IN 47246

Contact at Visitor Center: 812-546-8020