The story
Read it all →How Oakland came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Oakland.
Oakland began in 1880 with the construction of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad through the territory.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Oakland
Oakland’s post office opened in 1881, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 47% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1963 on and the census since 1890.
1881first post office
0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Oakland began
When was Oakland founded?
1881
The Oakland post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Parma (1873), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 686 in 18902020 census: 1,524145 years
How historic is Oakland?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 47% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Oakland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Oakland’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oakland is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Oakland’s overall grade.
Founding era1881, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194032.1% of homes (±7.7) · typical IA town 21.6% · U.S. 8.4%ANational RegisterNo listings counted · typical IA town 9.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 47%
NewerOlder
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Oakland’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Oakland’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Oakland’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oakland’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.From the old history books
What they wrote about Oakland, 1883–1907
Passages that mention Oakland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 19071907 · page 181Read the page →
Read the text
The building of a branch railroad of the Rock Island Railroad down the Botna valley from Avoca changed the character of the hamlet of Big Grove, standing in the primeval forest, to an important town. The town of Oakland was laid out by Thomas Tostevin and Samuel Denton, surveyors. The first residence on the new site was erected by Dr. S. Stewart and the first store building by J. C. Norton, J. M. Estes and E. H. Wineland in the upper part of town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time ... biographical sketches1883Read the page →
Read the text
Freeman, Alvina Eck and L. B. Robinson, the post office being called Big Grove, now Oakland. Eck became a defaulter, and absconded in the spring of 1882. The post office was first located in George Reed's house, about a mile from Oakland, the residence now occupied by J. A. T. Bates. In 1863, it was transferred to the other side of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 19071907 · page 202Read the page →
Read the text
Although it has no town of its own it is in close touch with Hancock, Oakland, Minden or Avoca. There has been since its early settlement a large German element in its population and the first church was that of the German Methodist, who as early as 1873, had a flourishing organization, including a large Sunday school, and at that day had creeled a parsonage at a cost of $3,500. Since then another church has been established.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time ... biographical sketches1883Read the page →
Read the text
teen, when he began farming for himself; this he continued till the fall of 1879, when he began buying grain at Parma, two and one-half miles north of Oakland. In the fall of 1880, he sold his farm and came to Oakland, Pottawattamie County, where he has since been engaged as a grain-dealer. Mr. Rust was married at Council Blutls, September 2, 1865, to Mary
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Oakland, 1873 to 1963
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Oakland, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2004On the map
Oakland on the map, 1963 to 1985
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oakland. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1963Oakland sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oakland.
People over time
Oakland, census by census
Between 686 and 1,603 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oakland’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Oakland’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Parma, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Parma
Oakland
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Parna Post Officepost office
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Oakland’s history
What year was Oakland founded?
The Oakland post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Oakland rank for history?
Oakland is more historic than 47% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Oakland?
32% of Oakland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1960.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.