Johns Hopkins, born on May 19, 1795, on a tobacco plantation in Anne Arundel County, grew to become one of the Baltimore's leading financiers and greatest philanthropists.

Whitehall, the family plantation owned by his parents, Samuel and Hannah Hopkins, was worked by slaves. However, the Hopkinses were Quakers, and their meeting had begun questioning the morality of owning slaves. In 1807, the Quaker meeting to which the Hopkinses belonged decided slavery was incompatible with Quakerism: all members were to free their slaves or leave the meeting. Samuel and Hannah freed their slaves, and with the help of their children, kept the plantation running, but their decision curtailed Johns' schooling. Although he kept up his studies for a few years, he never returned to formal education. The experience, though, shaped his abolitionist principles.

Johns Hopkins

Owned by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

Hopkins left the family plantation in 1812 at the request of his uncle Gerard, who asked that Hopkins move to Baltimore and assist in Gerard's mercantile business. After working there for five years, Hopkins left his uncle's business and began his own grocery and dry goods companies. His first was a brief partnership with a friend, followed by a partnership with his brothers. Throughout all these ventures, Hopkins displayed remarkable financial and business acumen.

He frequently took risks that other merchants avoided. For example, his company sold goods in the mountain regions of Maryland and Virginia by sending out traveling salesmen with loaded wagons. This was a typical business practice of the day, and it raised the question of how the merchants should accept payment. Most required cash; Hopkins also accepted whiskey. Once his agents brought the whiskey back to Baltimore, he would re-label and resell it. Although he later regretted taking this particular risk, Hopkins took many others as he expanded beyond mercantile business.

As his growing business provided him with more capital, Hopkins invested around Baltimore. He was one of the first to invest in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, considered a less safe investment than canals. He purchased property throughout the city, in particular near the harbor basin, clearing its slums and establishing warehouses for shipping. He became a director of many of the city's institutions, including the First National & Central National Banks, and helped the city's merchants weather problems such as the Panic of 1873.

Throughout his successful life he remained engaged with civic matters, from helping individuals trying to start businesses to donating generously to causes around the city. Hopkins also gave of his time, serving on charitable boards around the city. In 1867, Hopkins formed two corporations, one for a university and the other for a hospital. These became the nucleus of today's Johns Hopkins University.

Hopkins fell ill with a bout of cholera in 1832 and developed insomnia in 1852, from which he suffered for the rest of his life. He died on December 24, 1873, and is buried in Green Mount Cemetery. Never married, he left bequests to family members and then established two multimillion dollar trusts, one each for the hospital and university. His estate, Clifton, was held by the university until 1901, when it was sold to the city. It survives today as Clifton Park.

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Franz, Caroline Jones. “Johns Hopkins.” American Heritage, 27 (February 1976): 31–33, 98–102.

French, John C. A History of the University Founded by Johns Hopkins. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1946.

Jacob, Kathryn A. "Mr. Johns Hopkins." The Johns Hopkins Magazine. (January 1974): 13-7.

Thom, Helen Hopkins. Johns Hopkins: A Silhouette. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1929.