George W. Hopkins

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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 was a descendant of Stephen Hopkins signer of the Declaration of Independence. 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, Florida. He founded the Union Cypress Company in 1914. He died in 1925.

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 188610400X
Melbourne Bicentennial Book. Noreda B. McKemy and Elaine Murray Stone. July 4, 1976. Library of Congress 76-020298.

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