Situated in northeastern Geneva Township, in northern Van Buren County, Lacota, Michigan extends north into Casco and Lee townships in Allegan County.
The chief routes through the community are County Road 681, County Road 388, and Baseline Road.
The cities and villages of Breedsville, South Haven, Bangor, Bloomingdale, Gobles, Hartford, and Lawrence are within twenty miles of Lacota, and the unincorporated communities of Kibbie, Leisure, Lee, Pullman, Grand Junction, Hawkhead, Sherman Park, Spring Grove, Berlamont, Maple Grove Corners, Bakersville, and Miami Park are within ten miles.
As an unincorporated community, Lacota doesn't have defined boundaries, but its population center is concentrated to the west of CR-681, between Baseline Road and CR-388.
The Kal-Haven Trail, a 33.5-mile rail-trail that runs from South Haven to a point just west of Kalamazoo, where there is a trailhead, passes through Lacota. The trail is a former Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad rail bed that has been converted into a hiking, biking, and snowmobiling trail with a limestone/slag surface.
Clark Pierce, who came to the area in 1837, is acknowledged as the first European-American settler. On May 20, 1864, a post office opened in the community as West Geneva, named for the township, with Jerome B. Watson as postmaster. When a townsite was platted by Enoch M. Pease in 1870, it was named Irvington, for Irving Pierce, the first white child born in the township. The name of the post office was changed to Irvington on June 2, 1874.
When the Michigan Central Railroad opened a station there in 1884, they requested a change in the name of the community, as they already had a town named Irving on their line. Lacota was suggested as the new name by Varnum M. Dilley, whose father was reading a novel in which the protagonist was a Native American woman named Lacota. The post office was renamed Lacota on December 22, 1884.
Although platted, Lacota was never incorporated as a village.
Although the small population center of Lacota is in Geneva Township, some residents of the adjacent Lee and Casco townships identify with Lacota as their mail is delivered by the Lacota post office.
Although Lacota has never been a large town, it once had a reasonably sized commercial district, a shoemaker, a bank, a school, and some shops, including the Van Pelt Store and Wood's General Store, as well as an Odd Fellows Hall. However, today its downtown district consists mostly of empty lots where shops used to stand, while other commercial buildings have been converted to homes, and still others are empty buildings.
Topics related to businesses, industries, schools, churches, organizations, attractions, events, and sports or recreational opportunities in Lacota are the focus of this guide.
 
 
Recommended Resources
Headquartered in Lacota, Michigan, the company offers its plants retail or wholesale, and is available nationwide, with sales offices in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkey, serving a Mideast market. Wholesale and retail product categories are categorized and featured on its site, with photos, descriptions, and online shopping capabilities. Plant properties, hardiness zones, and grow guides are included. Its operations are shown on a map, which includes telephone and fax numbers.
https://hartmannsplantcompany.com/
Situated south of Baseline Road in the Lacota, Michigan area, the cemetery is featured on the Find a Grave website, which allows site visitors to upload photos of the grounds and memorial markers, as well as information about those interred there, such as dates of birth and death, the place of birth and death, and others, including cross-referencing with the memorials of family members. Readers may upload virtual flowers and make statements about any of the persons interred on the grounds.
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/861/lacota-cemetery
WFMK 99.1: Another Old Michigan Town You Need To Check Out
Licensed to East Lansing, Michigan, WFMK is an adult contemporary radio station owned by Townsquare Media. Its website features an article written by John Robinson, and published on March 12, 2019, which profiles the small rural community of Lacota, Michigan. The article features a history and profile of the village, along with photos of its railroad depot in the early 1900s, as well as contemporary photos of the old railroad lines, now part of the Kal-Haven Trail, and other views.
https://99wfmk.com/lacota-michigan-2020/