Architect James W. Hopper (January 17, 1888 -20 April 20, 1965) typifies the numerous early to mid-20th century architects who played central roles in their own and nearby communities. A son of a local builder, Hopper was the principal if not the only local architect active in the building up of the industrial-based communities that compose the present town of Eden. His prolific practice encompassed essentially every building type including industrial, commercial, religious, and residential, as well as popular styles of the day, typically rendered in substantial and conservative fashion.

The present town of Eden, North Carolina, was established in 1967 from the neighboring communities of Leaksville, Spray, and Draper, where 19th century industrialists improved navigation and established and expanded textile factories and other operations at the confluence of the Dan and Smith Rivers not far from the Virginia border. The advent of rail connections late in the century boosted development. Each of the communities developed its own identity, downtown, institutions, and neighborhoods. The early 20th century, especially, brought quite a construction boom, including a series of massive industrial buildings, most of which have been lost in recent years.

A few miles away, the town of Mayodan was named for its rivers, the Mayo and the Dan. While these towns prospered with textile production, several miles away, Reidsville became a major tobacco manufacturing center. The county seat of Wentworth also prospered modestly. The demand for solid, often stylish architecture in the early 20th century provided Rockingham County resident Hopper a steady supply of work, chiefly in the towns that became Eden.

James W, Hopper was a son of James Monroe Hopper and Anna Eliza Bassett, the latter a native of Henry County, Virginia. Although he was born in Preston, Virginia, James W. Hopper was the third generation of his father’s side of the family active in Rockingham County, North Carolina’s building trades. His grandfather, R. M. Hopper, was a prominent antebellum builder there and his father, James M. Hopper, owned a brickyard and contracting business in Leaksville and is credited with constructing numerous houses and commercial and industrial structures in the county, including many of downtown Leaksville’s early brick buildings.

James W. Hopper studied engineering at the University of Michigan and is also reported to have studied at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech), Columbia University, and Tulane University. In 1912 he opened an architectural office in Danville, Virginia, and over the next few years he provided designs in Virginia for an addition to the Tuscarora Club Clubhouse, a Methodist church in the town of Stuart, and the remodeling of an antebellum house called Brandon-on-the Dan.

James W. soon moved to Rockingham County, North Carolina, where his father was well established and industrial growth was mounting. The Raleigh News and Observer of January 31, 1915 reported that Hopper, a graduate in architecture from the University of Michigan, “will make Leaksville his home and while here will practice his profession.” In the town of Draper, reported the Reidsville Review of March 25, 1916, “Architect J. W. Hopper” had drawn plans for a store building for B. F. Mebane, while the J. M. Hopper Construction Company (operated by J. W.’s father) had a contract to build twenty-nine houses in Draper. These were probably houses for mill workers. Also in 1916, J. W. Hopper completed plans for a Heiner building to be erected on Floyd Hill in Leaksville. It was to be 90 feet broad and 80 feet deep, with four large store rooms separated by fire walls (Reidsville Review, April 7, 1916); it is evidently no longer extant.

In 1917 James married Lottie James Saunders (1886–1967). Indicative of their status in the community, during the days leading up to their wedding, local and regional newspapers carried detailed accounts of the parties hosted by their friends, including the elaborate decorations, games, music, and prizes. The account of one party for forty-eight guests, carried in the Greensboro Daily News of January 7, 1917, noted that Miss Saunders was “one of Leaksville’s most popular young ladies, and Mr. Hopper a popular and prominent businessman.” His draft registration card for World War I identified him as James Woodson Hopper, an architect living in Leaksville and employed by the Carolina Cotton and Wagon Company of Spray, N. C.

For Hopper, as for many other architects, the public school building movement of the early twentieth century was a major source of commissions. He had a strong relationship with the Rockingham County Board of Education, which was sponsoring a number of school projects. During the 1920s, notices appeared regularly in local and regional newspapers seeking bids for constructing grade schools and high schools, typically of brick and “modern,” with details provided on approximate size, number of classrooms, and other facilities. Although some were designed by architects from Greensboro and Winston (present Winston-Salem), for many of them J. W. or James W. Hopper of Leaksville was identified as the architect, Among these were a high school in Stoneville (Reidsville Review, June 4, 1918); graded schools for Leaksville (Greensboro Daily News, May 28, 1922); a school in Ruffin (Reidsville Review, June 20, 1923); a school in Mayodan (News and Observer, July 31, 1923); a school in New Bethel Township (Reidsville Review, October 15, 1923); and seven others (unnamed) in 1934 (News and Observer, August 14, 1934). Hopper also planned numerous improvements to schools and civic buildings. In keeping with broad trends in public school architecture, his school designs tended to be one, two, and three-story red brick buildings, with modest ornament and generous windows. Many of them served for long periods, but few of them are known to survive today.

Hopper was also noted for his residences, for which he or his clients often selected period revival styles. His residential work, like his school projects, continued during the Great Depression. He often employed the Colonial Revival style in various forms but also used the Tudor Revival style, as in his own residence, the James W. Hopper House, at 819 Washington Street in the 1920s, and the Mrs. Claude Jones House on Boone Road in the 1930s.

In 1940, on the eve of the nation’s entry into World War II, James W. Hopper provided a list of “recent typical projects” on his National Defense census of engineering and architectural personnel form. His list comprised mainly schools but also residences, a hospital, and commercial work from the 1920s and 1930s, plus “Other schools making a total of 37 schools since 1915.” (See NOTE below for his 1940 list.) In 1943 James W. Hopper and a cousin took control of the J. M. Hopper Construction Company. James W. Hopper was buried in the Lawson Cemetery in present Eden, as was his widow, Lottie.

NOTE: The following list is extracted from Hopper’s list of recent typical commissions of 1940 for his National Defense census of engineering and architectural personnel form. The original document is in the American Institute of Architects Archives. See the J. W. Hopper (Hooper) file in the Charlotte Vestal Brown Wainwright Collection at Special Collections, North Carolina State University Libraries. Buildings in the list for which we have entries are linked. Leaksville Hospital, 1924; Lakeside School, 1931; Leaksville High School, 1932; Leaksville Grade School Add., 1932; Draper Graded School Add., 1932; North Spray Grade School, 1932; Williamsburg Grade School, 1934; Huntsville Grade School, 1934; Simpsonville Grade School, 1935; Ruffin Graded School, 1935; Stoneville High School, 1935; Mayodan High School Add., 1936; Washington High School Add., 1938; Intelligence School, 1938; Draper Junior High School, 1939; Douglass High School, 1939; Ruffin High School, 1940; Boulevard Theatre, 1937; Dehart Store and Office Building, 1937; Chandler Drug Building, 1927; residence of Mrs. John Smith, 1938; residence of James B. Fagg, 1939. When further information becomes available about their locations and status, building entries will be prepared for them. Available information indicates that many of these, especially the schools, have been lost.

NOTE: The Building List includes only a sampling of Hopper’s work. For more information, see Claudia Roberts Brown, A Tale of Three Cities, 1986.

Claudia Roberts Brown, A Tale of Three Cities, 1986.

J. W. Hopper (Hooper) file, Charlotte Vestal Brown Wainwright Collection, Special Collections, North Carolina State University Libraries