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History · Hopkins Township

Hopkins Township dates to 1870, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1940 on, and the census since 1880.

1870founded
0on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Hopkins Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Hopkins Township began

When was Hopkins Township founded?

1870

Hopkins Township dates its founding to 1870 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.

First census: 920 in 18802020 census: 645156 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1871.The full story ↓

What stands out about Hopkins Township’s 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 Township’s homes were built before 1944.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hopkins Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hopkins Township’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 viewNoakes Bridge, Spanning One Hundred & T…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Hopkins Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hopkins Township.

Read it all →

Hopkins was laid out in 1870. The community has the name of A.L. Hopkins of the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad. The railroad later became the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and finally the Burlington Northern before tracks were removed in 1983. A post office called Hopkins has been in operation since 1871.

The Hopkins Tornado of 1881 is believed to have been one of the first recorded F5 tornadoes.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Hopkins Township in 1882

Passages that mention Hopkins Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.

William Broyles was the first settler in the territory now belonging to Hopkins Township. He settled on the east side of the Mowery Branch in White Oak Grove. The settlement was made in the year 1843. John Kimball settled two or three years afterward in the forks of One Hundred and Two River, about…
The history of Nodaway county, Missouri, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., biographical sketches of its citizens1882 · page 175Read the page →
Read the text

William Broyles was the first settler in the territory now belonging to Hopkins Township. He settled on the east side of the Mowery Branch in White Oak Grove. The settlement was made in the year 1843. John Kimball settled two or three years afterward in the forks of One Hundred and Two River, about a mile north of where Hopkins is now situated. Washington Downing, the next settler, located two miles southeast of where Hopkins now stands. David J. Wiet came next, and settled three miles southeast of where Hopkins is now situated. James

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Hopkins Township, 1870 to 1940

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870
    FoundingHopkins Township is established
  3. 1875Post officeThe Fairview post office opens
  4. 1881Post officeThe Fairview post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1940On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Hopkins Township, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Noakes Bridge, Spanning One Hundred & Two River, Southwest of HopkinsDate?Noakes Bridge, Spanning One Hundred & Two River, Sout…
Today3 recent
NorthNodawayHighSchool2025NorthNodawayHighSchoolUntitled photo2025Untitled photoHopkinsMo2025HopkinsMo
On the map

Hopkins Township on the map, 1940 to 1980

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

Hopkins Township on the 1940 USGS mapHopkins Township on the 1980 USGS map1940New Market 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 Township.

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.

Noakes Bridge, Spanning One Hundred & Two River, Southwest of Hopkins
Retake this viewNoakes Bridge, Spanning One Hundred & Two River, Southwest of Hopkins

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Hopkins Township, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 920

Between 472 and 920 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Fairview, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Fairview SchoolschoolGood Hope ChurchchurchHighland SchoolschoolUnity ChurchchurchUnity Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hopkins Township
CoxHopkinsMorehouseWashburn

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Union TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAtchison TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndependence TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hopkins Township’s history

What year was Hopkins Township founded?

In 1870, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Hopkins Township’s post office opened in 1871, and the census of 1880 counted 920 people here.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.