Hopkins Sand and Gravel Beginnings

Company History

Rod Hopkins Sr. has been a lifelong resident of Burnett County. He defended his country in World War II. Rod returned home to his parent's house, Charlie and Dora, who lived on Austin Lake Road. That was in January of 1946.

One morning while eating breakfast at the C & S Cafe in Webster, some farmers who needed road gravel were visiting with him. Rod went home and told his dad about the farmers needs. His dad said, "We have gravel on our property". They hooked up the horses to the scraper and cleared the topsoil from the ground to expose the gravel. Rod recognized the need as a possible business opportunity.

The next day Rod went to Siren and purchased a dump truck and 2 shovels. He began selling the road gravel from their property. Every load of gravel was hand loaded into that truck with those newly purchased shovels. This was the beginning of Hopkins Sand & Gravel.

In the early sixties Rod expanded his business to include Ready-mixed Concrete by purchasing a 1 yard batch plant. They didn't have a silo for the cement, so the trucks were loaded by hand with bags of cement. Over the years the business grew and two more locations were added: Minong, WI and Beroun, MN.

Rod's eldest son Roderick purchased Hopkins Sand & Gravel in the early 90's. Today, we are proudly beginning our 4th generation of family owned and operated Hopkins Sand & Gravel.