The first white settler of record to the area that includes present-day Mount Hope was William Blake, Sr. In 1796 Blake purchased 3,602 1/4 acres of land for the sum of $1,258 from William and Sarah Austin. The Austins had obtained the land in 1786, via a land grant issued by Gov. James Wood of Virginia. The tract was a small portion of the Henry Banks survey that included land lying along the waters of the New River and Dunloup Creek in Montgomery County, Virginia. In the spring of 1805 Blake, his wife and children moved to the area, taking temporary shelter in a so-called Indian fort while constructing a permanent dwelling.

Following Blake's death Blake's land holdings were divided as parcels ahd distributed to his heirs. In 1867 a parcel inherited by William Blake, Jr. was sold to Luther Warner. This estate later become known as Warner Town. In 1870 J. H. ("Fud") McGinnis bought a parcel inherited by Jackson Blake, which included the area that would later become Kilsyth.