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History · Oakville

Oakville’s post office opened in 1884, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1910.

1884first post office

0on the National Register

43%homes built before 1940

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Photo: PopePompus · CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick answers

How Oakville began

When was Oakville founded?

1884

The Oakville post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 389 in 19102020 census: 200142 years

Founding year: the first Oakville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Oakville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Oakville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 470 in 1980; 200 people lived here in 2020.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oakville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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People over time

Oakville, census by census

Peaked at 470 in 1980; 200 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story so far

Oakville, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Oakville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Oakville is a city in southeastern Louisa County, Iowa, United States. The population was 200 at the time of the 2020 census. It is part of the Muscatine Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 173 to 200 (+16%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Oakville in 1911

Passages that mention Oakville, cut from the printed page as they were published.

addition of a number of tile drains, which would cost as estimated by the engineer, $2,926, making the probable cost of the improvements, $42,314, as estimated by these commissioners. As originally contemplated, this district included the town of Oakville, comprising District No. 1, already establi… — **History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1912**1911 · page 171Read the page →
Read the text
addition of a number of tile drains, which would cost as estimated by the engineer, $2,926, making the probable cost of the improvements, $42,314, as estimated by these commissioners. As originally contemplated, this district included the town of Oakville, comprising District No. 1, already established and also about 4,000 acres contiguous to Oakville, mostly on the south and southwest, and a little of it immediately north of Oakville. The landowners of this part of the proposed district objected to its being taken in, with the result that when the district was established on June 24, 1908, this land was left out of the district.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

On September 16, 1903, the board of supervisors established what has since been known as Drainage District No. 1, which included all that portion of sections 2T,. 24. 2^, and 21 1, township J}, north, range 2 west, lying within the corporate limits of the town of Oakville. This took in practically … — **History of Louisa County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1912**1911 · page 170Read the page →
Read the text
On September 16, 1903, the board of supervisors established what has since been known as Drainage District No. 1, which included all that portion of sections 2T,. 24. 2^, and 21 1, township J}, north, range 2 west, lying within the corporate limits of the town of Oakville. This took in practically all of the town of Oakville. The total cost of the work done in this district was about $2,000.00. Drainage District Xo, 2 was established on the petition of W. S. Gunnels, March 22. 1906, to include about 2,717 acres. The engineer was J. A. Shriner and his original estimate of the cost was $11,311.20. The engineer originally re-
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

Oakville, 1884 to 1980

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

19th century
1884Post officeThe Oakville post office opens
20th century
1946On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1980CensusPopulation peaks at 470

By decade

Oakville, decade by decade

Today4 recent

2025OakvilleIAWelcomeSign

2025OakvilleIACityPark

2008Oakville flooding

2004IAMap-doton-Oakville

On the map

Oakville on the map, 1946 to 1965

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

1946Wapello 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 Oakville.

Every building

Oakville, building by building, 1913

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Oakville fire insurance map, 1913, sheet 1

1913Sheet 1 of 1

Sheets

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Famous people

Famous people close to Oakville

Nobody well known was born in Oakville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →

Suzy BoggussAmerican musician · b. 1956

Ben W. OlcottAmerican politician · b. 1872

Doris LeeAmerican painter, printmaker and muralist · b. 1905

Judson Churchill WelliverAmerican speechwriter · b. 1870

Murray WierAmerican basketball player · b. 1926

Charles S. WhartonU.S. Representative · b. 1875

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Oakville’s post office has been open since 1884.

Gone or out of use

Oakvillelocale

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

Questions about Oakville’s history

What year was Oakville founded?

The Oakville post office opened in 1884, 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 →

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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 Wikimedia Commons (4), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.

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