Form the Lucas County Heritage 2000 book
Oakley was named Oakley because the 40 acres on which it was located was covered with oak trees. The Des Moines Railway Company built the railroad from Chariton to Indianola, Iowa. They say it took five years to build. They told people along the route, "If they would donate the land, they would put a station every seven or eight miles." They found out later they were going to anyway. They sold the railroad to C.B. & Q. Railroad, and they operated it from about 1878 to 1962. There was a depot and stockyards there for many years. Saturday was shipping day and there were three or four carloads of fat hogs and cattle shipped almost every Saturday. Lafe Mauk and his son bought livestock there. Oakley at one time had a depot where three or four trains a day stopped. Some of the first business places were Jim Robertson's Store, Mikesell's Store and Henry Rose Store. Each had one gas pump, Mr. Clark ran a blacksmith shop, and there was a big deliver barn. Oakley had a lighted horseshoe court, a baseball team and a garage. The big brick building had a college in it at one time.
Some of the early settlers included the Mikesells, Burgetts, Niswenders, Krutsingers, Nusbaums, Oxenreiders, Cacklers, Clarks, McCormicks, Parrys, Fosters, Joneses, Newhouses, Keens, Petersons and Walls.
Oakley, like a lot of little towns, has passed by the wayside. The only business left now is Gillespy Salvage and Bill Welch Garage.
Oakley had two churches at one time. Methodist Church and Christian Church. The Christian Church has been a community center for several years.
Joseph Lincoln Piper and his wife came to Iowa from Illinois about 1890 and settled on a farm near Clio. Soon after this he bought a general store in Oakley and began a lifelong career as a Lucas County merchant. Several days a week he drove a huckster wagon, selling groceries and other merchandise to farm families near Oakley.
Oakley was named Oakley because the 40 acres on which it was located was covered with oak trees. The Des Moines Railway Company built the railroad from Chariton to Indianola, Iowa. They say it took five years to build. They told people along the route, "If they would donate the land, they would put a station every seven or eight miles." They found out later they were going to anyway. They sold the railroad to C.B. & Q. Railroad, and they operated it from about 1878 to 1962. There was a depot and stockyards there for many years. Saturday was shipping day and there were three or four carloads of fat hogs and cattle shipped almost every Saturday. Lafe Mauk and his son bought livestock there. Oakley at one time had a depot where three or four trains a day stopped. Some of the first business places were Jim Robertson's Store, Mikesell's Store and Henry Rose Store. Each had one gas pump, Mr. Clark ran a blacksmith shop, and there was a big deliver barn. Oakley had a lighted horseshoe court, a baseball team and a garage. The big brick building had a college in it at one time.
Some of the early settlers included the Mikesells, Burgetts, Niswenders, Krutsingers, Nusbaums, Oxenreiders, Cacklers, Clarks, McCormicks, Parrys, Fosters, Joneses, Newhouses, Keens, Petersons and Walls.
Oakley, like a lot of little towns, has passed by the wayside. The only business left now is Gillespy Salvage and Bill Welch Garage.
Oakley had two churches at one time. Methodist Church and Christian Church. The Christian Church has been a community center for several years.
Joseph Lincoln Piper and his wife came to Iowa from Illinois about 1890 and settled on a farm near Clio. Soon after this he bought a general store in Oakley and began a lifelong career as a Lucas County merchant. Several days a week he drove a huckster wagon, selling groceries and other merchandise to farm families near Oakley.
When his brother Rob came to work for him,
Joe L. went to work part of each week for the railway mail service. (In 1978, we have no passenger service to
Chariton, but many freight trains).
Then, Mr. Piper got on the north branch of the C.B. & Q. (now the
Burlington Northern) at Oakley, rode to Chariton, took a passenger train to
Chicago where he boarded the mail coach on the train to Omaha, working the mail
on the way. He then rode the mail car on
the passenger train bound for Chariton and then home to Oakley on the North
Branch.
In 1900, Joe L. sold the Oakley store and
moved his family to Chariton to 1118 Ashland, which was the family home until
Mrs. Piper's last illness. He and his
brother, Rob, opened a grocery in the north part of the Hollinger building on
North Main and Joe L. continued part time in the mail service.
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