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History · Hopkins

Hopkins’ post office opened in 1854, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1958 on, and the census since 1930.

1854first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hopkins’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hopkins began

When was Hopkins founded?

1854

The Hopkins post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 384 in 19302020 census: 615172 years
Founding year: the first Hopkins post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Hopkins’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Hopkins’ homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hopkins’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hopkins’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewOne Hundred Thirty-Third Avenue Bridge,…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Hopkins came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hopkins.

Read it all →

John Hoffmaster settled here in 1854. On May 20, 1854, the Hopkins post office was opened with Erastus Congdon as its first postmaster. The Hopkins Station post office opened on March 28, 1870, with postmaster Henry F. Guyot. Hopkins Station was the name of the railroad depot opened in 1874. Hoffmaster became the first depot master and platted the village. On May 31, 1904, the Hopkins post office was closed. On June 6, 1906, the Hopkins Station post office was shortened to just Hopkins.

Hopkins was incorporated as a village in 1920. On January 31, 1929, Claude B. Hoffmaster became postmaster.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Hopkins, 1869 to 1958

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1869Born hereFrank Kitson is born here
  3. 20th century
  4. 1937Born hereRon Stehouwer is born here
  5. 1958On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Hopkins, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
One Hundred Thirty-Third Avenue Bridge, Spanning Rabbit RiverDate?One Hundred Thirty-Third Avenue Bridge, Spanning Rabb…
On the map

Hopkins on the map, 1958 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hopkins. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Hopkins on the 1958 USGS mapHopkins on the 1984 USGS map1958Allegan sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hopkins.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

One Hundred Thirty-Third Avenue Bridge, Spanning Rabbit River
Retake this viewOne Hundred Thirty-Third Avenue Bridge, Spanning Rabbit River

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hopkins’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Hopkins, census by census

010020030040050060019401960198020002020Peak: 615

Between 384 and 615 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hopkins’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Hopkins

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
F
Frank KitsonAmerican baseball player · b. 1869
R
Ron StehouwerAmerican football player · b. 1937

Questions about Hopkins’ history

What year was Hopkins founded?

The Hopkins post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.