Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Oakdale Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Oakdale Township

Oakdale Township’s post office opened in 1872, and 14% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1964 on and the census since 1870.

1872first post office
0on the National Register
14%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Quick answers

How Oakdale Township began

When was Oakdale Township founded?

1872

The Oakdale Township post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Elkhorn (1829), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 116 in 18702020 census: 561154 years
Founding year: the first Oakdale Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Oakdale Township’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 Oakdale Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oakdale Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Oakdale Township, in brief

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

Oakdale is a village in Washington County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Oakdale had a population of 199.

Its first post office opened in 1872. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 594 to 561 (-6%).

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

Timeline

Oakdale Township, 1829 to 1964

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1829Post officeThe Elkhorn post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Post officeThe Elkhorn post office closes
  5. 1964On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Oakdale Township on the map, 1964 to 1985

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

Oakdale Township on the 1964 USGS mapOakdale Township on the 1985 USGS map1964Oakdale sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oakdale Township.

People over time

Oakdale Township, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 221

Between 116 and 221 people in every census since 1870.

7 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Elkhorn, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
ElktonMcKinley
Gone or out of use
Pleasant Hill SchoolschoolTemple Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Oakdale Township
ElktonMaxwellOakdale

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Pilot Knob TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLively Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPlum Hill TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Oakdale Township’s history

What year was Oakdale Township founded?

The Oakdale Township post office opened in 1872, 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 →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.