Hokah, Minnesota
| Hokah, Minnesota | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Downtown Hokah viewed from the side of Thompson Bluff
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 Location of Hokah, Minnesota |
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| Coordinates: 43°45′34″N 91°20′47″W / 43.75944°N 91.34639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Minnesota |
| County | Houston |
| Founded | 1851 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Mike Walsh |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.75 sq mi (1.94 km2) |
| • Land | 0.73 sq mi (1.89 km2) |
| • Water | 0.02 sq mi (0.05 km2) |
| Elevation | 702 ft (214 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 580 |
| • Estimate (2015) | 560 |
| • Density | 794.5/sq mi (306.8/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 55941 |
| Area code(s) | 507 |
| FIPS code | 27-29510 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0645066 |
| Website | www.cityofhokah-mn.gov |
Hokah is a city in Houston County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 580 at the 2010 census. Hokah is located near the confluence of the Root River and the Mississippi River, opposite La Crosse, Wisconsin, and is part of the La Crosse metropolitan area.
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. There were, at one time, more than thirty Indian mounds throughout the area including several effigy mounds, though most have been lost.
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.
By 1875, Hokah had several major industries including four flour mills, cooper shops and a railroad depot, driven by the city's location on the navigable Root River near where it empties into the Mississippi River as well as the Root River Valley Railroad which ran through the north end of the village from nearby La Crescent to Rochester, Minnesota. 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.
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