The Aron Arlington family arrived as the area's first Euroamerican settlers in 1857 and later moved near Decatur. In 1866, Norwegian settler John Oak and his wife, Inger Askwig Oak, came to the Logan valley and occupied the abandoned Arlington cabin. As more settlers arrived, Oak gave them shelter and helped them file homestead claims. His cabin hosted the first school board meeting on September 30, 1867, when Oak was elected treasurer, and Andrew Morell's sod house hosted the first term of School District 14 in May 1868. That year, John P. Anderson petitioned the Burt County Supervisors to name the town Oakland in honor of John Oak, and on May 11, 1868, the U.S. Post Office established the Oakland Post Office with Oak as postmaster. Oak resigned in 1869 and moved to Dakota County to build a grist mill; he died on December 17, 1875, and was buried in Taylor Cemetery there. In 1879, to accommodate the railroad, Oakland moved to its present site on land purchased from James Askwig, S. M. Lundstrom, and the state and developed by George Thomas, and the town was incorporated on April 13, 1881.