OKOBOJI, Iowa | Two lakes, a city of just over 800 people and 35 businesses bear the name "Okoboji."
Another 10 businesses use the nickname "Boji."
What does the strange sounding name mean?
The exact origin and meaning of the name "Okoboji" is unknown, according to Okoboji's Maritime Museum Director Mary Kennedy.
She said Okoboji is most likely derived from the Dakota-language name "Okoboozhy," which means "place of rest," "reeds" or "rushes" (like cattails).
"It's an Indian word, but that's really all we know about it," Kennedy said. "The (Santee Sioux), they weren't really living here, but they are the ones who caused the Spirit Lake Massacre."
The attack by a renegade band of Santee Sioux March 8-12 of 1857 killed 35 to 40 settlers in their scattered holdings near Okoboji and Spirit lakes.
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Aubrey LaFoy, a local historian, said West Okoboji Lake was first called "Minnietonka" by the Santee Sioux, but he said the name "didn't fly very well."
Minnetonka was a well-known lake in Minnesota. The name was so similar in spelling that Minnietonka was re-named West Okoboji Lake.
"They originally named East Okoboji as 'Okoboozhy,' which means 'rushes,'" he said. "That's how it came about."
A missionary woman living in South Dakota with the Santee Sioux, LaFoy said, came up with the translation, "rushes."
"It's about as close as we can get, I guess," he said.
LaFoy estimates that the lakes were named in the late 1850s, since Dickinson County became a county in 1857.
"Big Spirit Lake had been named many years before that, but that's another story," he said.
FOR THE LOVE OF IOWA GREAT LAKES HISTORY
LaFoy has written 850 articles about the Iowa Great Lakes area and its people for the former Milford Mail, the Dickinson County News, and the Okobojian. He has also published five books on the topic.
The retired history teacher now lives in Arnolds Park, Iowa, but was born and raised in Milford, Iowa.
"I've been around the lakes all my life," he said. "My mother's family, they were very early pioneers. They were into the county in 1867."
LaFoy grew up on the lake. His family had a cottage on West Lake Okoboji from 1925 on. His grandmother, he said, sparked his interest in Iowa Great Lakes history.
"She used to tell just fascinating stories about pioneer days," he said. "I love history. I'm never bored with history."
LaFoy began his teaching career in Greeley, Colo., before moving to Mason City, where he taught for 25 years. LaFoy moved back to the Iowa Lakes area in 1980 and commuted to Estherville, Iowa, where he taught for eight years.
"I just couldn't stay away from here. I had to move back," he said.
