Hokah

History

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area that is now the city of Hokah was a Native American settlement of the Dakota people. The city's name, which is said to be a Native American word meaning gar fish or the Dakota name for the nearby Root River, derives from the chief of the settlement, Chief Wecheschatope Hokah. The first recorded European settler in Hokah was Edward Thompson, who arrived in 1851 with his wife and family and constructed a flour mill and dam on Thompson Creek, a tributary of the Root River that runs through the city and now bears his name. The first town meeting was held in 1858, and the town was officially incorporated into a village by the state of Minnesota on March 2, 1871. The railroad depot was equipped for all types of railroad work, including the construction of railroad locomotives and coaches. The depot employed as many as 500 workers and constructed as many as 300 coaches in one year. As of 1880, Hokah also had a plow factory, a furniture factory, three blacksmith shops, a shoe shop, two drug stores, and six general stores. In 1880, the Root River Valley Railroad was purchased by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and the railroad depot in Hokah was razed in favor of other facilities elsewhere, leaving several hundred workers without employment and causing many people to leave the area. Hokah's other industries suffered from this loss of population and many of the other local businesses eventually closed. On August 19, 2007, 15.10 inches of rain fell in Hokah over a 24-hour period, breaking the previous 24-hour rainfall record for the state of Minnesota of 10.84 inches set on July 22, 1972 in Fort Ripley, Minnesota. This rainfall was part of the weather system that caused the 2007 Midwest flooding and caused…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Hokah's location in the Driftless Area of southeastern Minnesota gives it a hilly landscape dominated by high bluffs and low river valleys known as coulees. The city's downtown is set on a small bluff between the Root River valley and the Thompson Creek valley. At the east end of downtown is Thompson Bluff, also known as Mt. Tom, a bluff that rises more than 400 feet above downtown. Like Thompson Creek, Thompson Bluff is named for Edward Thompson. Hokah was home to Como Falls, a waterfall on Thompson Creek. From 1858 until the 1930s Hokah was also home to Lake Como, a 90-acre, 20-foot deep man-made lake created by building a dam on Thompson Creek at Como Falls. Lake Como was a popular vacation spot in its heyday, drawing visitors from La Crosse and the surrounding area with lakeside cabins and boat rentals. The dam that created Lake Como failed during a flood in 1909 and allowed the lake to drain but was rebuilt in 1922. By the late 1930s, soil erosion from nearby farms prior to the widespread local use of contour plowing caused the lake bed to fill in, bringing about the end of Lake Como. Until August 2018, the site of Lake Como was used as a community park, pool, and baseball field. A severe storm in late August 2018 dumped almost eight inches of rain in the area in less than 24 hours, causing massive damage to the park and rerouting the path of water around the rock formation that made up Como Falls, basically destroying the falls. In the following months, local and state parties' funding was allocated to rebuilding the route for water that creates Como Falls. {|style="margin: 0 auto; float:center;" | | |}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,605
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,364
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  5,313
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,995
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,839
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,436
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  4,214
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,204

Largest nearby schools

• LA CRESCENT SENIOR HIGH
  High · LA CRESCENT · 381 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• LA CRESCENT-HOKAH ELEMENTARY
  Elementary · LA CRESCENT · 355 students · 11.1:1 ratio
• LA CRESCENT-HOKAH MIDDLE SCHOOL
  Middle · LA CRESCENT · 292 students · 13.3:1 ratio
• La Crescent Montessori & STEM Acad
  Elementary · LA CRESCENT · 48 students · 16:1 ratio
• La Crescent Sec Montessori/STEM
  High · LA CRESCENT · 43 students · 14.3:1 ratio
• HVED Spectrum Program
  Other · HOKAH · 14 students · 3.5:1 ratio
• LaCrescent Gr 9-12
  High · LA CRESCENT