Loksa

The village of Loksa, the town's namesake and predecessor, was first mentioned in 1631 as Lox. Later on, the village was also referred to as Locksa and Loxa, until it became known as Loksa in 1798.^[5]

The name possibly comes from the word loks (local dialect), which means either a marsh or a lake that dries up during the dry season.^[6]

The village of Loksa was first mentioned in 1687 but this area is known in modern times as the village of Kotka.

The development of what is known these days as the town of Loksa started around 1874 when the landlords of Kolga established a new brickyard outside Loksa. Around this factory a new market town was born.

In 1903, a shipyard was established, boosting the community's further growth. From Loksa, bricks were transported to Reval (Tallinn), Helsingfors (Helsinki) and Saint Petersburg. Although no ships were built in Loksa, the shipyard was heavily engaged in repairing ships from 1905 onwards.

By the end of the 19th century, there were 36 dwellings in Loksa. By 1934, their number had grown to 150. Loksa soon became the administrative centre of Loksa Parish which was part of Harju County until 1949 and of Viru County from 1949 to 1950.

From 1950 to 1957, Loksa was the administrative centre of Loksa District. After a new administrative reform in 1957 Loksa became part of Harju District. The brickyard was closed down in 1981, but the shipyard continued to be expanded until the end of the Soviet occupation and remains the town's main employer.

With the restoration of the Republic of Estonia in 1991, Loksa again became the seat of the restored Loksa Parish, and it was elevated from market town to town on August 25, 1993. A military drill in 2010 made the beach near Loksa the site of the first American amphibious landing exercise in what had been Soviet territory.^[7]

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the population of Loksa has decreased by more than one fifth. This has been mainly caused by growing unemployment, resulting from closure and downsizing of several companies not fit for new economic climate.

In 2000, there were 1,650 inhabitants in labor force, 750 of whom were working somewhere else.

As of 2011, Estonians made up 30.6% of the towns population and Russians 58.6%.^[2]