DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Live Oak County, there's a place that started with a name as plain as the land itself — folks just called it 'on the sulphur,' sitting right there on the sulphur tributary of the Nueces River. Irish immigrants had come to settle this stretch of Texas as part of the John McMullen and James McGloin Mexican land grant.
No grand ceremony, no fancy christening — just people putting down roots on land that had a grant behind it and a river nearby. Then Live Oak County organized in 1856, and that little sulphur-side settlement got a proper name — Oakville — and the biggest title a county town can hold: county seat. Now a man named Thomas Wilson stepped up and gave 640 acres for the townsite.
Six hundred and forty acres. And he didn't just hand it over loose — he stipulated that separate squares be marked out as public, graveyard, church, and school squares. The man had a plan, and the town had a blueprint.
Oakville grew. Stores went up. Two hotels.
A livery stable. A school. Two churches.
The kind of roster that tells you people were arriving and intending to stay. And on May 11, 1857, the Oakville post office opened its doors, with Joshua Hinton serving as the first postmaster. The mail came four times a week, riding in on stagecoaches working the line from San Antonio to Corpus Christi and on down to Brownsville.
That's a long road, and Oakville was right in the middle of it. By 1879, the San Antonio-Corpus Christi stage had picked up pace — leaving both ends of the line six days a week. Six days a week, coaches rolling through, letters changing hands, news traveling.
Oakville was a stop that mattered. But here's where the story takes its turn. Stage travel got less popular with the arrival of the railroad — the way it always does, the iron road crowding out the dirt one.
And in 1913, the San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf railroad bypassed Oakville entirely. Didn't go through it. Went around it.
And the town began to decline. By 1919, the county seat had been relocated to George West. The center of things had shifted, the way centers do when the tracks don't come to you.
But here's what I'll leave you with — Oakville didn't disappear. In 1966, the Oakville Post Office was designated as a rural branch of the Three Rivers Post Office, and it continues to serve the community to this day. Some towns get bypassed by railroads, bypassed by county politics, bypassed by time itself — and they keep the lights on anyway.
Oakville's one of those.
What the marker says
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.