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Oakdale, Minnesota is an eastern suburb of Saint Paul. Its western boundaries is Minnesota Highway 120, its eastern boundary is Washington County Road 13, its northern boundary is Interstate Highway 694, and its southern boundary is Interstate 94. Minnesota Highway 36 also serves the city, and Hadley Avenue North is the primary street running the length of the city. Surrounding communities include Pine Springs, Lake Elmo, Oakbury, Landfall, Maplewood, and North St. Paul. Oakdale Township was organized in 1958, and remained as it was until Lake Elmo split off in 1926. East Oakdale Township detached in 1951, and Landfall and Pine Springs were incorporated in 1959. Later that year, Northdale split off. Oakdale gained some land back when Northdale and part of East Oakdale rejoined the township in 1968. Oakdale was incorporated as a city in 1974. The town’s first settler was Bernard B. Cyphers, who came from Virginia in 1848, just before the area became Minnesota Territory. He built a hotel, known as the Lake House, near Sunfish Lake. By 1850, a road suitable for stagecoach travel had been built, which mostly corresponds to today’s Highway 5. The Lake House was the town meeting site in the 1860s. Cyphers soon moved on, leaving John Morgan the first permanent settler of the town. In 1849, Morgan built a large hotel on the Stillwater-Saint Paul Road, about a half mile east of where I-694 is today. Known as the Halfway House, this became the place where the Concord stages of Willoughby & Powers changed horses en route from Saint Paul to Stillwater, and where passengers stopped for dinner. The first post office was established in 1857, and shortly afterwards moved to the Halfway House, which was then called Lohmanville. In 1876, the post office was at Bass Lake Station, which later became Lake Elmo. The St. Paul & Stillwater Short Line Railroad and St. Paul & Taylors Falls Railroad were built through the area in 1870 and 1871, and a station was opened at Oakdale.

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