Towns / Cities
All Information from the Book "North Dakota Place Names" by Douglas A Wick

Oakville Town Hall  Section 29

Henry Hancock sold the Great Northern Rail Road 40 acres for a townsite in 1882 in SE 1/4 Section 1 & Section 12-151-53 Chester Township. The townsite was platted in 1885 and named in a stylized fashion for the nearby Emery Farm, owned by Lewis Emery JR. an oilman from Bradford, PA. The post office was established November 25, 1885 with Edmund Gale Jr. as Postmaster. The little town experienced a belated boom period when the Grand Forks Air Force Base was founded in the 1950's just north of the town. Emerado incorporated as a city in 1955, and reached a peak population of 596 in 1980, although higher figures were claimed during the major construction phases at the air base. The elevation is 910 and the Zip Code is 58228.

This Great Northern Rail Road townsite was founded in 1880 in Sections 2 & 11-151-52, Oakville Township, ten miles west of Grand Forks and named Stickney. This name was unpopular with local residents, and on March 6, 1883 Postmaster Charles Hutchinson changed the name to Ojata, a corruption of the Sioux word "oz-ate", meaning crossing. A population of 58 was reported in 1890, and 45 people were here as late as 1920, but the village failed to develop beyond that date and the post office closed May 15, 1936 with mail to Emerado. The site is now abandoned.

Stickney

This Great Northern Rail Road townsite was founded in 1880 in Sections 2 & 11-151-52, Oakville Township, ten miles west of Grand Forks, and named for Alpheus B Stickney, a Great Northern RR official who in 1882 organized the Union Stock Yards in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The post office was established August 19, 1880 with James W Hunter Postmaster. The townsite was built largely on the north side of the tracks in Section 2-151-52, and when development began on the south side of the tracks in Section 11-151-52 a movement was initiated to change the name, which had bad connotations in an area plagued by gumbo quagmires following any rainfall. On March 6, 1883 the name was changed to Ojata.

Business History

Schools

Oakville School  Section 01

Churches

Historical, Genealogical and Ethnic Events

Photographs

Personal and Community Stories about this Area