Hockerville, Oklahoma Explained

Hockerville, Oklahoma
Settlement Type:Ghost town
Pushpin Map:Oklahoma#USA
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Oklahoma
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Ottawa
Unit Pref:Imperial
Timezone:Central (CST)
Utc Offset:-6
Timezone Dst:CDT
Utc Offset Dst:-5
Elevation Ft:853
Coordinates:36.9939°N -94.7811°W
Blank Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank Info:1093811

Hockerville is a ghost town in northern Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. Hockerville was a mining community near the Kansas-Oklahoma border; it once had more than 500 residents. At least 18 mines operated in the Hockerville area in 1918 alone.

Geography

The community was located just south of the Kansas-Oklahoma border between Picher to the west and Baxter Springs, Kansas, to the northeast.[1]

History

The settlement was named for Leslie C. Hocker, an early resident.[2] A post office operated from 1918 to 1963.[2]

Circa 1918, Hockerville was billed as "the young, substantial, and progressive young city of the Oklahoma Mining District"; the area was home to at least 18 mines.[3]

Hockerville's population was 550 in 1940.[4]

The area was mined for zinc ore and lead from the early 1900s to the late 1970s, leaving in a 40sqmi area - which includes Hockerville - contaminated by toxins, and part of the Tar Creek Superfund Site.[5]

Education

Picher-Cardin Public Schools, which was the local school district, closed in 2009.[6] The area was placed into Quapaw Public Schools.[7] [8]

Notes and References

  1. Oklahoma Atlas & Gazetteer, DeLorme, 1st ed., 1998, p. 27
  2. Book: Shirk . George H. . Wright . Muriel H. . Oklahoma Place Names . University of Oklahoma Press . 1974 . 117. 978-0-8061-2028-7 .
  3. News: 1918-06-05 . Hockerville! . 2024-01-11 . Miami Daily Record-Herald . 5.
  4. Book: The Attorneys List . United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, Attorney List Department . 1940 . 776 . en . January 11, 2024 . November 3, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221103000157/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTcjAQAAMAAJ . live .
  5. Web site: Tar Creek Superfund Site - Ottawa County, OK . Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry . September 21, 2015 . October 5, 2023 . October 10, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231010211010/https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/tarcreek/ . live .
  6. Web site: Gillham. Omer. Stogsdill. Sheila. Picher school says farewell to last 11. The Oklahoman. 2009-05-17. 2021-03-29. March 29, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210329164126/https://www.oklahoman.com/article/3370168/picher-school-says-farewell-to-last-11. live.
  7. Web site: SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP (2010 CENSUS): Ottawa County, OK. U.S. Census Bureau. 2021-03-29. April 12, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210412045924/https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/dc10map/sch_dist/st40_ok/c40115_ottawa/DC10SD_C40115_001.pdf. live. - Compare to the highway map.
  8. Web site: Ottawa County. Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 2021-03-29. May 14, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210514001821/https://www.odot.org/maps/county/map_co_58-ottawa.pdf. live.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hockerville, Oklahoma".

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