April 2017 | Business View Magazine

80 81 I n 2016, Hopewell, Virginia celebrated its city centenni- al –100 years of cyclical economic resurgence. This is one resilient place. Back in the early days, the Chicago Tribune dubbed it “The Wonder City,” after a catastrophic fire claimed the entire downtown core and then, within a year, Hopewell came back to life. The moniker lasted until the 1960s and still fits today. Assistant City Manager Charlie Dane, is privy to the details, past and present, and shares the story, along with prospects and plans for a bright future. “Hopewell was literally built by industry,” he begins. “DuPont bought 1200 acres of land in 1912 hopewell, virginia The wonder city is back Hopewell, Virginia to build a large guncotton and gunpowder plant to support the WWI war effort. At that time, Hopewell was called City Point, a small community of 750 people.Within three years, it swelled to over 40,000 residents. A huge immigrant population flocked here to work in the plants, and the city grew like crazy. In 1915, the entire downtown burned, and one year later was rebuilt bigger, better, and stronger. That’s when Hopewell was incorpo- rated as an independent city.” When the war ended, DuPont didn’t need the plant anymore. So, they closed the doors, keeping only a thousand people on the payroll to maintain the property while they tried to sell it.