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History · Chokio

Chokio’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold just one old photo of Chokio. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

1old images & papers
1need a date
Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28 · Library of Congress

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

"Chokio" derives from a Lakota word meaning "the middle". It was a midway stop on the Pony Express route between Morris and Graceville. Other accounts say it was the halfway point on the old Wadsworth Trail, which ran between St. Cloud and Sisseton, South Dakota.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Be one of the first

Start Chokio’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chokio’s history is told.

0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo1 archive item has no date+2 🔁Retake an old viewChokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota…: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Famous people from Chokio

See all 1 →
DPDonald E. PedersonPolitics & Law
By decade

Chokio, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your album
Date
unknown1 item
Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28LOCDate?Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28
National Register of Historic Places

Nothing in Chokio is on the National Register yet

That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Chokio has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Alberta Teachers House in Alberta, 6.1 miles away.

Chokio and the nearest listed places

Dashed line = Chokio. Tap a dot.
Alberta Teachers HouseLewis H. Stanton HouseMorris Carnegie LibraryMorris High SchoolMorris Industrial School for Indians DormitoryWest Central School of Agriculture and Experiment Station Historic District

Closest to Chokio

Alberta Teachers HouseAlberta · Craftsman · Built 19176.1miLewis H. Stanton HouseMorris · Stick Style · Built 188112.1miMorris Carnegie LibraryMorris · Built 190512.4miMorris High SchoolMorris · Site13miMorris Industrial School for Indians DormitoryMorris · Built 188713.2mi

How a place gets listed

1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Alberta Teachers House’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Chokio?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Chokio’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old place
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons

Then & now

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28 and it appears here side by side.

🔁 Retake this view · +15

Stories next door

nearby towns’ history
📜 Baker📜 Everglade📜 Pepperton📜 Johnson

From the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

The coffee’s on

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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