Editing Hokah, Minnesota (section)

==History==
[[File:Hokah MN welcome sign - Apr 2015.png|thumb|left|Welcome sign along state highway 16]]
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area that is now the city of Hokah was a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] settlement of the [[Dakota people]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cityofhokah-mn.gov | title=Homepage | publisher=City of Hokah, MN | access-date=30 April 2015}}</ref>  The city's name, which is said to be a Native American word meaning [[gar|gar fish]]<ref name="cityofhokah-mn.gov">{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityofhokah-mn.gov/documents/History-of-Hokah.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-04-15 |archive-date=2015-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206094443/http://cityofhokah-mn.gov/documents/History-of-Hokah.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> or the Dakota name for the nearby [[Root River (Minnesota)|Root River]],<ref name="Upham2001">{{cite book|author=Warren Upham|title=Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ho23eS5qjNgC&pg=PA244|year=2001|publisher=Minnesota Historical Society Press|isbn=978-0-87351-396-8|pages=244–}}</ref> derives from the chief of the settlement, Chief Wecheschatope Hokah.<ref name="cityofhokah-mn.gov"/>  There were, at one time, more than thirty [[Indian mound]]s throughout the area including several effigy mounds, though most have been lost.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dgarvey/Mounds/Hokah_Effigy_Mounds.html|title=Hokah, Minnesota Effigy Mounds}}</ref>

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 (Minnesota)|Root River]] that runs through the city and now bears his name.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://genealogytrails.com/minn/houston/twphistory_hokah.htm|title=Houston County Minnesota Genealogy and History|website=genealogytrails.com}}</ref>  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.<ref name="Upham2001"/>

By 1875, Hokah had several major industries including four flour mills, [[cooper (profession)|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, Minnesota|La Crescent]] to [[Rochester, Minnesota]].<ref name="lacrosse-buildings.com">{{cite web |url=http://lacrosse-buildings.com/hokah/ |title=Historic Buildings of la Crosse » Hokah |access-date=2015-04-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418202305/http://lacrosse-buildings.com/hokah/ |archive-date=2015-04-18 }}</ref>  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.<ref name="lacrossetribune.com">{{cite web| url = http://lacrossetribune.com/houstonconews/news/local/hokah-railroad-shops-had-huge-impact-on-area/article_d6037d5f-2f05-55f8-8626-53f0e3619d4f.html| title = Hokah railroad shops had huge impact on area {{!}} Houston County News {{!}} lacrossetribune.com}}</ref>  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.<ref name="lacrossetribune.com"/>

In 1876, a railroad bridge was constructed across the Mississippi River from La Crosse, connecting the Root River Valley Railroad to the railroads across the river in La Crosse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.footstepsoflacrosse.org/lax_hist.asp |title=Footsteps of la Crosse |access-date=2015-04-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225172958/http://www.footstepsoflacrosse.org/lax_hist.asp |archive-date=2015-02-25 }}</ref>  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.<ref name="cityofhokah-mn.gov"/>

[[File:CityHallHokahMN.jpg|thumb|left|Former Hokah city hall, built in 1938<br>Now the Library]]
[[File:Hokah Administrative Center and police department.jpg|thumb|left|Hokah Administrative Center and police department]]
On April 23, 1923, the village was reincorporated as a city.<ref name="Upham2001"/>  Hokah City Hall, built by the [[Works Progress Administration]] in 1938, is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://lacrossetribune.com/houstonconews/news/local/a-different-kind-of-registration-for-historic-hokah-city-hall/article_acacb6b8-9910-547c-9e90-93c5a4cfb0cf.html| title = A different kind of registration for historic Hokah City Hall {{!}} Houston County News {{!}} lacrossetribune.com}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/climate/journal/24hour_rain_record.html|title=24-hour Minnesota Rainfall Record Broken &#124; August 19, 2007 &#124; Minnesota DNR|website=www.dnr.state.mn.us}}</ref>  This rainfall was part of the weather system that caused the [[2007 Midwest flooding]] and caused widespread damage throughout Hokah and surrounding communities including landslides, damaged and destroyed homes, and washed-out roads.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.daycreek.com/dc/html/flood_hokah.html | title=Southeast Minnesota 2007 Flood | publisher=daycreek.com | access-date=30 April 2015 | archive-date=February 5, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205141753/http://www.daycreek.com/dc/html/flood_hokah.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>  Hokah also holds the record for the most rainfall in any month for the state of Minnesota at 23.86 inches, also set in August, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/monthly_rain_record.htm |title=Monthly Minnesota Rainfall Record Broken |access-date=2007-10-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514085958/http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/monthly_rain_record.htm |archive-date=2008-05-14 }}</ref>