Founding year: the first Oakland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Oakland’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oakland is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #108 of 362 in Wisconsin. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Oakland’s overall grade.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Oakland’s 3.1 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.1 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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Oakland yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Oakland is a town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,231 at the 2020 census. The unincorporated communities of Breezy Knoll, Oakland, and Sylvan Mounds, as well as the census-designated place of Lake Ripley, are located in the town.
Its first post office opened in 1846. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,100 to 3,231 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Oakland in 1879
Passages that mention Oakland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing ... biographical sketches ..1879 · page 364Read the page →
Read the text
into the ground at an angle of forty-five degrees. On the farm of S. Chapman, in Oakland, an oak-tree nearly three feet in diameter, and perfectly sound, was broken off si.x feet from tiie ground. At a moderate estimate, the damage done to farm property in Jefferson County amounted to over $50,000, most of which is in the town of Oakland. No such visitation has ever before occurred in this portion of the State since about 1851, when it ia reported a similar tornado passed through the northern part of the country.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Jefferson county, Wisconsin, containing ... biographical sketches ..1879 · page 316Read the page →
Read the text
On the north side of Red Cedar Lake, in the town of Oakland, and in the vicinity on the west, the lower beds are displayed, showing a somewhat less firm rock than usual. The most interesting exposure of the Trenton limestone, in the town of Waterloo, is at the quarry of David Crump, in Section 35. The lower four feet are of thick bedded, very serviceable rock, above which lies one foot of thin shaly stone, succeeded by six feet of somewhat irregular layers of medium thickness, upon which are two feet of even bedded stone, overlaid by two and a half feet of thin, greenish, shaly material. The lower portion is to be regardeii as representing the Lower Buff layers, and the upper ones the Lower Blue limestone.
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.
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.
The Oakland post office opened in 1846, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Oakland rank for history?
Oakland is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #108 of 362 in Wisconsin. 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.
What is on the National Register in Oakland?
One place: the Pokrandt Blacksmith Shop (listed 1983).
How old are the homes in Oakland?
16% of Oakland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
