HOPKINS, JOHNS. 



and rapid passenger-trains, by which it can 

 without much additional expense meet the de- 

 mands of through travelers, must for many 

 years to oome gwe it a decided advantage as a 

 passenger-route. In other words, its facilities 

 for every kind of transportation are such that 

 it can offer great inducements to the Western 

 roads to turn their business to its line. 



The question received a large share of the 

 discussion in the Legislature of 1873, and will 

 doubtless demand the urgent attention of that 

 of 1874. The popular sentiment in Massachu- 

 setts is that the tunnel must never become 

 part of a consolidated line, but must be re- 

 tained by the State. In view of this public 

 opinion, Governor Washbnrn thinks that the 

 State should retain the ownership of the tun- 

 nel and the railroad, and should vest their 

 management in a board of trustees, appointed 

 for a term of years, and organized as a cor- 

 poration capable of suing and being sued. 



HOPKINS, JOHNS, a princely philanthropist 

 of Baltimore, born in Anne Arundel County, 

 Md., May 19, 1795; died in Baltimore, Md., 

 December 24, 1873. His family were of Eng- 

 lish origin, but had resided in Maryland for 

 six or seven generations. They were mostly 

 members of the Society of Friends. Johns 

 Hopkins was brought up on his father's farm 

 in Anne Arnndel County till he reached his 

 eighteenth year, though he had received a good 

 education. In 1812 he went to Baltimore as a 

 clerk to his uncle, Gerard F. Hopkins, then in 

 the wholesale grocery business. He remained 

 with his uncle seven years, devoting himself 

 with most intense energy to the attainment of 

 a thorough mastery of the business, and, in 

 1819, without any capital other than the busi- 

 ness ability he had shown, and the indorsement 

 of some of his notes by his uncle, he com- 

 menced business as a wholesale grocer with 

 Benjamin P. Moore as partner. The partner- 

 ship prospered, but at the end of three years 

 Johns Hopkins felt strong enough to manage 

 it alone, and calling to his aid two younger 

 brothers, both under age, he gave them nn in- 

 terest in his business, which was thenceforward 

 carried on under the firm name of Hopkins &, 

 Hi-others. With his untiring energy and broad 

 IxiMiiess views, the house was greatly pros- 

 perous, its Im-iness extending into all the adja- 

 cent States, and through nil the financial vicis- 

 situdes of the next twenty-five years its credit 

 was never questioned. Having acquired mi 

 ample fortune, in 1847 Mr. Hopkins withdrew 

 from the firm, relinquishing the business to his 

 brothers and two of his clerks. The same 

 year he was elected President of the Mer- 

 chants' Bank, and retained the position till his 

 death. He was in this position a close ob- 

 server of the conduct, character, imd intelli- 

 gence of the young men who were just com- 

 mencing business there, and often without tlieir 

 knowledge indorsed their paper and thus aided 

 them in procuring needed discounts. In 1847, 

 also, Mr. Hopkins became a director in the 



Baltimore & Ohio Raih-oad Company, of which 

 he had previously been a large stockholder. 

 In 1855 he was appointed chairman of the 

 Finance Committee of the company, and by 

 his energy, sound judgment, and liberality, car- 

 ried it forward to a triumphant success. V 'hi n 

 at one time it was seriously .embarrassed, lie 

 came forward voluntarily, and indorsing its 

 notes to a largo amount pledged his pi 

 fortune to its support, and thus insured the 

 completion and success of the great under- 

 taking. He indulged snnguine hopes of the 

 business future of Baltimore, and by extensive 

 purchases of lands in the heart of the city, and 

 the erection on them of substantial warehouses 

 and other needed and attractive buildings, he 

 greatly enhanced the business facilities and the 

 value of property in the city. Being a bache- 

 lor, and his relatives being all wealthy, Mr. 

 Hopkins resolved some years since to establish 

 and endow some institutions which would be 

 of benefit to Baltimore and Maryland. For 

 this purpose he purchased the Maryland Hcspi- 

 t:il and its grounds, and these, with adjacent 

 lands which he already owned, he devoted to 

 the site of a free hospital to be called by his 

 name, with separate buildings for different 

 sexes, and for the colored people of each se.\, 

 for whom with the true spirit of the Friends 

 he felt a hearty sympathy. The hospital was 

 to have about four hundred free beds, and for 

 the buildings and endowment he set apart $3,- 

 000,000, besides the land and buildings, which 

 were worth more than $1,000,000 more. This 

 property was put in the hands of trustees in 

 March, 1878. He further provided for a train- 

 ing-school for nurses, to be connected with this 

 hospital, and on a separate site a home and 

 school for colored orphans, with room for about 

 260. For these purposes about $500,000 more 

 were appropriated. A smaller convalescent 

 hospital, with a park of less extent and a flower- 

 garden of thirteen acres, was among his other 

 gifts to the city. But perhaps his most mu- 

 nificent gift was that of the noble property at 

 Clifton, about 400 acres, on the Harfurd road, 

 about a mile from Baltimore, which, with an 

 endowment of $8,000,000, was devoted under 

 care of trustees of his own selection and by a 

 special charter from the State for a university 

 and public park. The whole plan was drawn 

 out by Mr. Hopkins, the money provided for 

 the buildings, the endowments and the free 

 scholarships, which were limited to poor and 

 deserving students from the States ot Virginia 

 and Maryland. Ho had before his death com- 

 pleted all his plans for these great benefactions, 

 the largest single gifts either to educational or 

 hospital purposes ever made. The total amount 

 of his endowments of these institutions exi 

 $8,000,000, aside from previous liberal dona- 

 tions, and consumed two-thirds of his great for- 

 tune. In all the relations of life Mr. Hopkins 

 was an exemplary and estimable citizen. The 

 citizens of Baltimore have voted to erect a me- 

 morial to this noble philanthropist. 



