Oakville Post Office

At its peak as county seat, Oakville had a steam gristmill and cotton gin, two hotels and a dozen or more stores, and it shipped cattle, horses, cotton and wool. The Live Oak County Leader began in 1891 under T. R. Atkins and Miss M. E. Atkins, and the county's first bank, Oakville First National, opened in 1905 under Dudley Blair and Lee Hinton. Population peaked at about 450 in 1914, the year after the railroad passed to the west. When George West offered $75,000 for a courthouse, the seat moved in 1919.

What the plaque says

Oakville Post Office Irish immigrants settled this area as part of the John McMullen and James McGloin Mexican land grant. Located on the sulphur tributary of the Nueces River, this site was known as "on the sulphur". Live Oak County was organized in 1856 and "Oakville" was named county seat. Thomas Wilson gave 640 acres for the townsite stipulating that separate square be marked as public, graveyard, church, and school squares. Oakville grew as stores, two hotels, a livery stable, a school, and two churches were established. The Oakville post office was established May 11, 1857, with Joshua Hinton as the first postmaster. The mail came four times a week on stagecoaches traveling from San Antonio to Corpus Christi and on to Brownsville. By 1879 the San Antonio-Corpus Christi stage left both ends of the line six days a week. Stage travel became less popular with the arrival of the railroad. When the San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf railroad bypassed Oakville in 1913, the town began to decline. The county seat was relocated in 1919 at George West. In 1966 the Oakville Post Office was designated as a rural branch of the Three Rivers Post Office and continues to serve the community. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Choke Canyon State Park — 15 mi
  A reservoir state park on the Frio River in two units, built after a 1982 dam, with birds, alligators and fishing on land people have crossed for more than 10,000 years.

More markers nearby

• Oakville — steps away
• Felix Longoria — 5.0 mi
• Three Rivers — 5.0 mi
• Site of Three Rivers Glass Factory — 5.2 mi