Why Oakdale
Oakdale is a suburban municipality situated in Washington County, Minnesota, within the eastern portion of the Twin Cities metropolitan area near Saint Paul. Ranking as the thirty-sixth largest city in the state by population, it encompasses roughly eleven and a quarter square miles, consisting mostly of land along with a small portion of surface water. The community is framed by major transit routes, bounded by Interstate 94 to the south, Interstate 694 to the north, State Highway 120 to the west, and County Road 13 to the east. Within the city, State Highway 36 provides key cross-town connection, while Hadley Avenue North acts as the central primary thoroughfare.
The settlement's historical roots date to November 1858, when Oakdale Township was first organized. The name was suggested during the inaugural town meeting by Arthur Stephen, a Scottish-born bricklayer who had immigrated to Illinois with his family in 1839. He selected the title to honor a notable grove of oak trees located near the original settlement site. During the 1970s, the present-day city was formed through the consolidation of Oakdale and Northdale Townships, followed by several land annexations that continued through the 1990s.
A notable geographic characteristic of Oakdale is the 45th parallel north, which bisects the city roughly along Upper 35th Street North to mark the exact midpoint between the Equator and the North Pole. A unique local manifestation of this line occurs at Tilsen Park, where the parallel runs directly across the home plate of the baseball field. In another part of the city, a former dump that was contaminated with heavy metals and organic compounds underwent extensive environmental remediation through the federal Superfund program and was subsequently redeveloped into a public municipal park.
In terms of local commerce and public services, the city previously served as the global headquarters for Imation, and many community members work at the nearby headquarters of 3M. Public education throughout the area is administered by the North St. Paul–Maplewood–Oakdale school district. Secondary students living in the southern half of Oakdale attend Tartan Senior High School located within the city limits, while those residing in the northern section are served by North High School in neighboring North Saint Paul.
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