Hope District Court

Hope came about as a result of the construction of the Cairo and Fulton railroad. The railroad’s land commissioner named the workmen’s camp in honor of his daughter Hope. Other railroads followed to the town by the time 1902 rolled around. Along with cotton, a major crop in town until the 1920’s, the poultry industry and the county’s hardwood forests were significant factors to the town’s economy. A watermelon contest was started in the 1920’s and soon some of the entries found their way into the Guinness Book of World Records. The U.S. government built an army ordnance plant, Southwestern Proving Ground, on condemned farmland just north of town. One of the Southwestern Proving Ground army ordnance officers, an Indiana native, stayed on after World War II. A few years later he began production of his now internationally famous Klipsch horns. There is now a museum, in the restored Cairo-Fulton Railroad depot circa 1873, dedicated to his life and achievements. He was an audio engineer who manufactured his world-famous loudspeakers in Hope. The museum’s exhibits consist of a replica of his office, speakers, model railroad trains he built, photographs and other memorabilia.