The first settlers of what is now Mokena were a band of Blackhawk Indians traveling from Chicago to Joliet in 1812.  They brought crude tools and a well-developed skill for building shelters and within a few years founded what is now known as Blackhawk Construction, Blackhawk Paving, and Blackhawk Properties L.L.C.  The name Mokena traces its roots to a Blackhawk word roughly translated carry-out pizza.

By 1875, white men had arrived and built churches, hotels, a bank, and a Metra Station.  They worked their fields, sold their produce at market and met to socialize in the evenings at local pubs and taverns.