Minneapolis Real Estate

HOPKINS REAL ESTATE

 

 

 

Hopkins is 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 17,145 at the 2000 census.

 

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

 

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.

 

Until 1893, Hopkins was part of Minneapolis. That year, residents of Hopkins sent the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners a petition signed by 41 residents, asking that a separate village be formed. 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.