ghost town
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...
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
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
, to the northeast.
History
The settlement was named for Leslie C. Hocker, an early resident. A post office operated from 1918 to 1963.
''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.
Hockerville's population was 550 in 1940.
The area was mined for zinc ore and lead from the early 1900s to the late 1970s, leaving in a area—which includes Hockerville—contaminated by toxins, and part of the Tar Creek Superfund Site.
Education
Picher-Cardin Public Schools
Picher-Cardin Public Schools was a school district headquartered in Picher, Oklahoma.
The district operated an elementary school, a junior high school, and a high school. In later periods it was organized only into an elementary school and a hig ...
, which was the local school district, closed in 2009. The area was placed into Quapaw Public Schools.