Hope was originally the southern district of the Town of Wells, but after its electors voted to separate and form a new town, the southern district was reorganized as the "Town of Hope" on April 15, 1818, with a population of 608 as of the 1820 census. In the 1830s, Montgomery County ceded Hope to Hamilton County, of which Hope currently occupies the most southeasterly part. In 1850, with booming agriculture, mining, sawmills, and tanneries, Hope's total population peaked at 1,125, with the subsequent decrease mainly due to residents moving away as a result of industrial decline. The town's area was considerably reduced on April 5, 1860, when a large portion of western Hope, with a population of 380, broke off to form part of the Town of Benson.
