To be a top real estate agent in Oakville, it is important to know the history. Unlike Sunset Hills or the Crestwood area, Oakville has never incorporated a City Hall. Yet, it is a popular area which travelers lie to visit.
Oakville is different than most cities like that of Sunset Hills and Crestwood, whose origins are surrounded in mystery. As word of mouth recollections start to fade while being handed down from one generation to the next. Several years ago I pondered upon the stories told about the Oakville community and where they had originated from. A well-known philanthropist and music store owner, Bill Nottelmann commented on how written materials should be composed about the area. But, many of Oakville’s residents have moved on and are practically non-existent today. So Nottelmann utilized his personal connections to form the (Oakville-Mehlville Alumni Association, Midwest BankCentre) along with other like-minded individuals. Released in 2002 (Reflections: a History of the Mehlville School District and Its Communities), the prize winner presented by Bill Nottelmann himself.
This was the most recent effort to try and memorialize Oakville’s origins dating back to a quaint community that offered land grants to fur trappers and ferryboat captains. Yet, the only written accounts of Oakville can be found in history books. The one thing these books have is the fact that Johannes Schulte was the Justice of the Peace during the late 1800s. At the turn of 1959, several members of the Oakville Fair Committee decided that September 10th to September 13th should be officially declared Oakville’s 100th Anniversary. The Centennial Celebration was held at Frankie’s Twin Pools, located just past the intersection of Telegraph and Fine Roads along the Meramec River. The celebration featured a 3-day horse show which was sponsored by the Oakville Fair Committee. Members of the committee included Mildred Bowman, Mrs. Henry Doerr, Robert & Edward Cecil, and Art Moore.
The 3-day event also featured ten special events, each of which being English and Western Divisions. Committee members hired Bessie Eek to play the organ. Besides the tie-in with the Oakville Horse Show, there’s little else which can be associated with the Centennial of 1959. According to Esley Hamilton well-known author of (A History of St. Louis County), “I cannot recall any special events that have occurred in 1859”.
A local historian by the name of Robert Lightfoot said he was not able to attend the Cenntenial festivities, instead Lightfoot assisted his family with farm work. Robert explained, “I was working on my family’s farm in the morning and during the evening hours helped them sell produce in Soulard”. Local records indicate the first post office to of been established in 1841 which is according to Robert G. Schultz’s Missouri post offices. It was located at the General Store and Weinheim Brother’s Grocers near Telegraph Road directly across from today’s Oakville Shopping Center.
Historic brochures were accredited by local churches, different historical societies, Chamber of Commerce, newspaper clippings, and the Oakville Centennial Committee indicate date variations from 1860 until the early 1880s as Oakville’s true origins. At that time the closest thing to a government was Oakville’s own Farmer’s Club.
Where members of the community could receive social welfare assistance, which included assistance selling their produce and getting higher prices on products required for local farms. One organization to predate the Oakville Club is that of the Utica, New York, Farmers. It wasn’t until April 5, 1874, which Oakville officially adopted a bylaw and constitution.
Their Meeting Hall was at the intersection of Yaeger and Telegraph Roads, where the Handyman Hardware Store is now located. A popular site for social events, political rallies, wedding parties, and other special occasions. In fact, it’s the place in which Arthur Rhomberg and Evelyn Getner held their wedding reception and the same establishment that caught on fire during February 1944.
The fire began within the roof and 1st-floor rafters. Helping to salvage what they could, started tossing items out of the broken stockroom window. Beginning with wedding gifts, most of which were damaged in the process and others had been burnt to a crisp. But, the happy couple stayed in good spirits despite their heated affair. Rhomberg’s wedding reception is going down in history as part of Oakville’s unwritten origins and the reason for Nottelman’s personal effort of restoring the community’s overdue historic writings. The Wallner Team is a top real estate agent in Oakville. Please contact us today.