History · Oakdale

Oakdale’s post office opened in 1858

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns · #231 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it

Most of Oakdale was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 1970.

1858first post office

0on the National Register

3%homes built before 1940

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Quick answers

How Oakdale began

When was Oakdale founded?

1858

The Oakdale post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 7,795 in 19702020 census: 28,303168 years

How historic is Oakdale?

C⁻

More historic than 18% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

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

History grade

What drives Oakdale’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oakdale is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #231 of 273 in Minnesota. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Oakdale’s overall grade.

Founding era1858, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC⁺Homes built before 19402.8% of homes (±1.2) · typical MN town 8.1% · U.S. 8.4%C⁻National RegisterNo listings counted · typical MN town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 18%

NewerOlder

Minnesota towns of 2,500+ (273)Ahead of 15%

Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Oakdale’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Minnesota 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 C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.2 points) is firm at this size. 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 Oakdale’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 are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Oakdale’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oakdale’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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The story so far

Oakdale, in brief

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

Oakdale is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. It is a suburb of Saint Paul in the eastern Twin Cities Metropolitan area. The population was 28,303 at the 2020 census. Oakdale is Minnesota's 36th-largest city by population. Oakdale lies entirely within the North St. Paul–Maplewood–Oakdale school district, ISD 622, and the city's students are split into two high schools within the district. Tartan Senior High School is within the city's boundaries, and serves the southern half of Oakdale. The city's northern residents are served by North High School in North St. Paul. The 45th parallel runs directly through Oakdale, bisecting the city generally along Upper 35th Street Nort…

Its first post office opened in 1858. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 27,378 to 28,303 (+3%).

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

From the old history books

What they wrote about Oakdale in 1881

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

**History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota**1881 · page 447Read the page →
Read the text
The first postoffice in the town of Oakdale was established at the house of Arthur Stephen, on section 35, in 1857. lie was appointed post- .
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

church in relation to points of doctrine, one branch going to the church one mile south, which belonged to the Missouri synod. The other branch to the church located in the town of Oakdale, a branch of the Buffalo synod. There is a cemetery connected with the first church. The first death was Cathe… — **History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley**1881 · page 414Read the page →
Read the text
church in relation to points of doctrine, one branch going to the church one mile south, which belonged to the Missouri synod. The other branch to the church located in the town of Oakdale, a branch of the Buffalo synod. There is a cemetery connected with the first church. The first death was Catherine, wife of Daniel VoUmer, July 20th, 1856; the first baptism was Catherine, daugh-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The first postofflce in the town of Oakdale was established at the house of Arthur Stephen, on section 35, in 1857. He was appointed postmaster the same year, and held the position for ten years. The office was called Oakdale. It was subsequently moved to Woodbury, just across the Une, a short dist… — **History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley**1881 · page 447Read the page →
Read the text
The first postofflce in the town of Oakdale was established at the house of Arthur Stephen, on section 35, in 1857. He was appointed postmaster the same year, and held the position for ten years. The office was called Oakdale. It was subsequently moved to Woodbury, just across the Une, a short distance to the east. May 15th, 1867, an office was established at the Half-
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

Oakdale, 1858 to 1949

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

19th century
1858Post officeThe Oakdale post office opens
20th century
1900Post officeThe Oakdale post office closes
1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Oakdale, decade by decade

Today6 recent

2024Helmo Avenue Station - July 2024

2018Twin Cities Traffic - Winter Snow Storm

2015Tartan Senior High School

2012Int94wRoad-Exit249-Int494s-Int694nSigns

2009Oakdale, MN 10-30-2009

2005MNMap-doton-Oakdale

On the map

Oakdale on the map, 1949 to 1993

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

1949Lake Elmo 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.

People over time

Oakdale, census by census

Grew from 7,795 people in 1970 to 28,303 in 2020, 3 times over.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

Oakdale had its own post office from 1858 to 1900.

Oakdale

1858–1900

18501940today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Hazel Park

Gone or out of use

Oakdale Post Officepost office

1cemetery inside Oakdale

Guardian Angels Catholic

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.

Lake ElmoIts storyC⁻Woodbury1 historic placeC MahtomediIts storyC Pine SpringsIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Oakdale’s history

What year was Oakdale founded?

The Oakdale post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Oakdale rank for history?

Oakdale is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #231 of 273 in Minnesota. 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 Oakdale?

3% of Oakdale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1985.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.

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