The South Carolina community of Hopkins in Lower Richland has for centuries been a place all its own: mostly Black, mostly homeowners, tight-knit and deeply historic.
But despite carrying a proud identity touting Black and Civil War history and serving as a gateway to Congaree National Park, the rural community of about 2,500 people about 15 miles from downtown Columbia doesn’t have the authority to govern itself. It’s not a city or a town, but a census-designated place governed by Richland County. That has left at least some residents in the small community worried about the fate of Hopkins as Columbia continues to grow southeast.
“Hopkins is being squeezed out,” said Rev. John Middleton, a local historian and minister at the New Light Beulah Baptist Church in Hopkins, who is a lead driver in trying to see the community become an official municipality…