George W. Hopkins

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This article is about the Florida industrialist. For the Virginia congressman and lawyer, see George Washington Hopkins.

George W. Hopkins was born around 1844. He was a lumberman and came to Eau Gallie, Florida in the 1890's, possibly from his hometown of Bear Lake, Michigan. He had at least one daughter named Agnes. He completed a drainage canal, now called Hopkins Canal in 1909, along present day Aurora Road between Lake Washington and the Eau Gallie River. The general idea and location of a navigable canal near the Hopkins Canal was first proposed by William Henry Gleason in 1871. After passage of the Drainage District Act in 1913, George W. Hopkins organized a huge drainage project.

The towns of Deer Park, Florida and Hopkins, Florida were founded by George W. Hopkins. Some books consider William H. Kempfer, his son-in-law, the founder of Deer Park. As of 2005, the Kempfer Sawmill still exists in Deer Park. He founded the Union Cypress Company in 1914. He died in 1925.

[edit] References

• History of Brevard County, Volume 1. Jerrell H. Shofner. Brevard County Historical Commission. 1995. Library of Congress 95-079892. ISBN 0-9646660-0-6
• Brevard County: a history to 1955. John M. Eriksen. Florida Historical Society Press. 1994. ISBN 1-886104-00-X
• Melbourne Bicentennial Book. Noreda B. McKemy and Elaine Murray Stone. July 4, 1976. Library of Congress 76-020298.