Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Oakville

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 · Oakville

Oakville’s post office opened in 1873, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1890 on.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Oakville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Oakville began

When was Oakville founded?

1873

The Oakville post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1905.

2020 census: 715153 years
Founding year: the first Oakville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1905.The full story ↓

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 writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ 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
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewOakville - Laying Track on the Rail Road: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Oakville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Oakville.

Read it all →

In 1818, the United States and Great Britain agreed to a treaty of joint occupancy in the Oregon Country, which included the land that would eventually become Oakville, Washington. Over the next several decades, citizens of the United States began to settle in the area. As traveling by boat was easier than moving through the dense forests, many used the river system, entering from the port of Grays Harbor and canoeing inland via the Chehalis River. The British government gave full ownership of the area to the United States in 1846.

ChaptersOakville blobs

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Oakville, 1873 to 1906

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Oakville post office opens
  3. 1890In the archiveOakville - Laying Track on the Rail Road
  4. 1895Born hereKatherine Van Winkle Palmer is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1906In the archiveOakville - George Pearson - 1906
By decade

Oakville, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1900s3 items
Oakville - Laying Track on the Rail Road1890Oakville - Laying Track on the Rail RoadOakville - Lonnborg Family - 18901890Oakville - Lonnborg Family - 1890Oakville - George Pearson - 19061906Oakville - George Pearson - 1906
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
WAMap-doton-Oakville2004WAMap-doton-Oakville
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Oakville - Laying Track on the Rail Road
Retake this viewOakville - Laying Track on the Rail Road, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Oakville’s page.

Retake this view · +15

Questions about Oakville’s history

What year was Oakville founded?

The Oakville post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1905.

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.