Place:Hopkins, Hennepin, Minnesota, United States

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Hopkins is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, located west of Minneapolis. The city is about four square miles in size and is surrounded by the larger, west suburban communities of Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and Edina. Hopkins is about 98% developed with little remaining vacant land. The population was 17,591 at the 2010 census.

U.S. Route 169 and Minnesota State Highway 7 are two of the main arterial routes in the city.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The first settlers of Hopkins arrived in 1852 as land around the growing Minneapolis-St. Paul area was opening up and being explored by members stationed at Fort Snelling. However, the roots of the town begin in 1887 with the building of the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, later called Minneapolis-Moline, to make farm equipment. At the time, Minneapolis Moline employed most of the Hopkins residents. In 1887, the West Minneapolis Land Company was founded and formed to build housing for the Minneapolis Moline factory workers.

In 1893, residents of Hopkins sent the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners a petition signed by 41 residents, asking that a separate village be formed from unincorporated portions of Minnetonka and Richfield Townships. Following an election, the community was then incorporated as the Village of West Minneapolis with a population of 1,105. The original village consisted of about three square miles, and it has been enlarged by annexation to its present size of about four square miles.

In 1928, the name of the village was changed to Hopkins after Harley H. Hopkins, who was among its first homesteaders and was the community's first postmaster. Mr. Hopkins allowed the town to build the train depot on his land (now The Depot Coffee House) with the agreement that the train station would say "Hopkins" on it. People getting off the train assumed the name of the town was Hopkins and it stuck. On January 1, 1948, the village became a city upon adoption of a council-city manager charter.

Timeline

• 1852 - First settlers arrived
• 1862 - First school, Burnes, built
• 1887 - Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company built
• 1893 - November 7, 1168 people incorporated the village of West Minneapolis
• 1893 - December 9, first city-council elected
• 1899 - Streetcar arrived in Hopkins
• 1928 - July 7, village name changed to Hopkins
• 1929 - Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company becomes Minneapolis-Moline
• 1934 - Hopkins business people organized the first Hopkins Raspberry Festival
• 1947 - December 2, Hopkins became a city through the adoption of a city charter

Hopkins Raspberry Festival

The Hopkins Raspberry Festival is an annual event in Hopkins. The Hopkins Raspberry Festival was founded in 1935 as a way to boost business during the Great Depression of the 1930s. A date of July 21st was chosen to hold the event to coincide with the peak of raspberry-picking season.

The Raspberry Festival is overseen by a board of directors supported by many additional volunteers and local civic organizations each year. Most of the volunteers return from year to year, with some being active for as many as 20 years. Since its inception, it has evolved into a dynamic community celebration with activities including music, sporting events, royalty coronations, craft fair, and parade.

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