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History · Chokio

Chokio’s post office opened in 1879, and 27% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1900.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
27%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chokio’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chokio began

When was Chokio founded?

1879

The Chokio post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Cho-Ki-O (1879), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 300 in 19002020 census: 405147 years
Founding year: the first Chokio post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Chokio’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 559 in 1980; 405 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Chokio’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chokio’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewChokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highw…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Chokio, census by census

01002003004005006001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 559

Peaked at 559 in 1980; 405 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chokio’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Chokio came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chokio.

Read 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.

Timeline

Chokio, 1879 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Cho-Ki-O post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Cho-Ki-O post office closes
  4. 1891Post officeThe Chokio post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1910On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 559
By decade

Chokio, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28Date?Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28
On the map

Chokio on the map, 1910 to 1973

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chokio. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Chokio on the 1910 USGS mapChokio on the 1973 USGS map1910Chokio sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Chokio.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Chokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28
Retake this viewChokio Grain Elevators, Minnesota Highway 28

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Chokio’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Chokio’s post office has been open since 1891. Another post office, Cho-Ki-O, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cho-Ki-O
1879–1881
Chokio
1891–today
18701950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Chokio’s history

What year was Chokio founded?

The Chokio post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.