Hockerville, Oklahoma
Ghost town in Oklahoma, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hockerville is a ghost town in northern Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States.[1] 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.
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Geography
The community was located just south of the Kansas-Oklahoma border between Picher to the west and Baxter Springs, Kansas, to the northeast.[2]
History
The settlement was named for Leslie C. Hocker, an early resident.[3] A post office operated from 1918 to 1963.[3]
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.[4]
Hockerville's population was 550 in 1940.[5]
The area was mined for zinc ore and lead from the early 1900s to the late 1970s, leaving in a 40-square-mile (100 km2) area—which includes Hockerville—contaminated by toxins, and part of the Tar Creek Superfund Site.[6]
Education
Picher-Cardin Public Schools, which was the local school district, closed in 2009.[7] The area was placed into Quapaw Public Schools.[8][9]