O.D. Hopkins founded Hopkins Engineering in 1962 and began making ski lifts. The company later expanded into building Sky Rides and switched its name to O.D. Hopkins Associates, Inc. in 1971. In the late 1970s, Hopkins built its first log flume, which happened to go to Wonderland and still operates there. Hopkins constructed a few roller coasters and other amusement park rides in the 1980s and 1990s, but its core business continued to be manufacturing water rides, flumes, and Shoot the Chute boat rides. The company went bankrupt in 2001, but reorganized and emerged from bankruptcy protection as Hopkins Rides, LLC in 2002. in 2012, Hopkins was acquired by WhiteWater West, a Canadian manufacturer of water slides and water play areas.
©2015 Joel A. Rogers.