Stephen Hopkins (March 7, 1707 – July 13, 1785) was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His political career included 25 years in the General Assembly, seven as Speaker, nineteen years a judge, and ten terms as Governor. He attended the Albany Congress of 1754, both Continental Congresses and signed the Declaration of Independence. Though self-educated, Hopkins was Brown University’s first Chancellor. He established Providence’s first newspaper, first schoolhouse, first library (now the Providence Atheneum) and also one of Rhode Island’s first iron foundries.