William R. Hopkins

Office:	City Manager, Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
Political party:	Republican
Term of office:	1924–1929
Preceded by:	Frederick Kohler Frederick Kohler Frederick Kohler was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as the 40th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1922 to 1923. He was born in Cleveland to Christian and Fredericka Kohler. As a teenager, he left school to help his father in Kohler Stone Works...
Succeeded by:	Daniel E. Morgan Daniel E. Morgan Daniel Edgar Morgan was an American politician of the Republican party who served as the second and last city manager of Cleveland, Ohio, but is often regarded as the 42nd mayor of the city. He was the last member of Cleveland City Council to become mayor until Frank G...
Date of birth:	July 26, 1869
Date of death:	February 9, 1961
Profession:	Lawyer

William Rowland Hopkins (July 26, 1869–February 9, 1961) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 of the Republican Party who served as the first city manager

City manager

A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council-manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief executive officer or chief administrative officer in some municipalities...

 of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 from 1924 to 1929, during the brief period that Cleveland had a council-manager government

Council-manager government

The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...

 instead of a mayor-council government

Mayor-council government

The mayor–council government system, sometimes called the mayor–commission government system, is one of the two most common forms of local government for municipalities...

.

Hopkins was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...

, the son of David J. and Mary Jeffreys Hopkins. In 1874, the family moved to Cleveland. Hopkins attended Western Reserve Academy

Western Reserve Academy

Western Reserve Academy is a private, mid-sized, coeducational boarding and day college preparatory school located in Hudson, Ohio.-History:...

 by working in the Cleveland Rolling Mills to pay his way through and graduated in 1892. At Western Reserve University, he earned a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in 1896. In 1897, he began studying law at Case, while simultaneously serving in Cleveland City Council

Cleveland City Council

Cleveland City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Cleveland in Ohio. Its members are elected from 19 wards to four-year terms. The number of council members has decreased over the years...

 as a Republican. In 1899, he earned his Bachelor of Laws

Bachelor of Laws

The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...

 and left city council. Hopkins laid out new industrial plant developments and promoted construction of the Cleveland Short Line Railroad in 1905. The following year, he gave up his law practice and went into business. Hopkins then entered local politics by becoming chairman of the Republican county committee and a member of the election board.

By 1924, Cleveland had seen several controversial political figures in office such as Frederick Kohler

Frederick Kohler

Frederick Kohler was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as the 40th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1922 to 1923. He was born in Cleveland to Christian and Fredericka Kohler. As a teenager, he left school to help his father in Kohler Stone Works...

 and Harry L. Davis

Harry L. Davis

Harry Lyman Davis was an American politician of the Republican Party. He served as the 38th and 44th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and as the 49th Governor of Ohio....

. Voters decided to try to extricate municipal government from partisan politics by adopting the city manager plan

Council-manager government

The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...

. Hopkins was selected by local Republican boss Maurice Maschke, former postmaster William J. Murphy

William J. Murphy

William J. Murphy was a Democratic politician from Idaho. He served as the 34th Lieutenant Governor of Idaho from 1977 to 1979 during the administration of Governor John V. Evans....

, and business manager of the news George Moran as the man who could hold the job as the city's manager. He was elected to the position by a coalition.

As city manager, Hopkins brought new development to Cleveland. He pushed for the development of parks, improved welfare institutions, wider boulevards, more playgrounds, air pollution control, and the construction of both the Van Sweringen brothers

Van Sweringen brothers

Oris Paxton Van Sweringen and Mantis James Van Sweringen were brothers who became railroad barons in order to develop Shaker Heights, Ohio. They are better known as O.P. Van Sweringen and M.J. Van Sweringen, or by their collective nickname, the Vans...

' Terminal Tower

Terminal Tower

The Terminal Tower is a landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, and was the second-tallest building in the world when it was completed. The Terminal Tower stood as the tallest building in North America...

 and Cleveland Stadium

Cleveland Stadium

Cleveland Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium, located in Cleveland, Ohio. In its final years, the stadium seated 74,438, for baseball and 81,000, for football. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and football...

. However, because the balance between city council and the city's central government was outweighed due to Hopkins' efficiency, council was always at war with the city manager, especially the newly-elected Peter Witt. Now with the city manager plan, council's role was diminished to such an extent and it almost became irrelevant. This, however, did not stop Hopkins' ambition for development.

His first plan was to fill in the lakefront, behind jetties. When first announced, the idea seemed almost incomprehensible. By the time he left office, however, the land saw development and today the landfill is occupied by Cleveland Browns Stadium

Cleveland Browns Stadium

-See also:* List of current National Football League stadiums* Chronology of home stadiums for current National Football League teams* List of American football stadiums by capacity* List of U.S. stadiums by capacity* List of North American stadiums by capacity...

, its predecessor Cleveland Stadium, much of the eastern portion of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway

Cleveland Memorial Shoreway

The Cleveland Memorial Shoreway is a limited-access freeway in Cleveland, Ohio. It closely follows the shore of Lake Erie and connects the east and west sides of Cleveland via the Main Avenue Bridge. The Shoreway carries State Route 2 along its length, and also carries U.S. 6, U.S. 20 and I-90...

  and the Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport

Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport is a public airport situated on the shore of Lake Erie, in the northeast part of downtown Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It classified as a general aviation airport and is an FAA designated reliever to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport ,...

.

Hopkins was recognized as being very charismatic. An excellent speaker, he was nicknamed by Witt as "Chautauqua Bill." He won support of Cleveland's ethnic large population, receiving praise in Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

, Czech

Czech language

Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

, Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

 and other foreign-language papers (there were roughly a half-dozen in big circulation at the time).

In 1925, Hopkins proposed a bold new initiative; the construction of a large airport located ten miles southwest of downtown. At the time, the idea seemed like a pipe dream with the introduction of the airplane being relatively new. Still, Hopkins was fascinated by aviation

Aviation

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 and felt that if Cleveland were to ever modernize itself, an airport would be a solid starting point. When Hopkins urged the purchase of piece of land from Brook Park

Brook Park, Ohio

-External links:*...

, sounding off ideas of planes flying from Cleveland to Paris and London with thousands of people on board (Now a reality Cleveland-London flight service in 1999 and Cleveland to Paris in 2008), Witt ridiculed the idea. The rest of council, however, avoided opposing it openly, so the land was purchased.

However, council still felt that Hopkins had acquired too much control and removed him from office in January 1930. His replacement was Daniel E. Morgan

Daniel E. Morgan

Daniel Edgar Morgan was an American politician of the Republican party who served as the second and last city manager of Cleveland, Ohio, but is often regarded as the 42nd mayor of the city. He was the last member of Cleveland City Council to become mayor until Frank G...

, the second and final city manager of Cleveland. In 1931, Hopkins became a member of council again and fought unsuccessfully to keep the city manager system. However, it was soon overturned and the city returned to a mayor-council government

Mayor-council government

The mayor–council government system, sometimes called the mayor–commission government system, is one of the two most common forms of local government for municipalities...

. In 1933, Hopkins retired from politics. In his honor, the Cleveland Municipal Airport was renamed Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is a public airport located nine miles southwest of the central business district of Cleveland, a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The airport lies just within the city limits of Cleveland...

in 1951. Hopkins died in 1961 and was buried in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.