Oakfield, Wisconsin

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1980. It stands in Oakfield town. It lies in ZIP code area 53065. The Survey maps it on the Oakfield quadrangle. 1,052 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 860 feet above sea level.

Oakfield within Fond du Lac County

Population over time

2 figures

Oakfield fell from 1,075 to 1,052 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	1,075
2020	1,052	-23 (-2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 10 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1955 USGS Waupun quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1957 USGS Madison quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
1960 USGS Madison quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1975 USGS Waupun NE quadrangle1:24000
1980 USGS Fond Du Lac quadrangle1:100000
1980 USGS Oakfield quadrangle1:24000

In the county-history sources

2,295 words on this township

The History of Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Oakfield Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

This is a rich, prosperous and pleasant town. It was erected into the town of Lime by an act approved February 2, 1816, and the name changed to Oakfield February 10, 1847. The extensive and rich quarries of limestone afforded by the " Ledge," in Township 14 north, of Range 10 east, suggested the name of Lime, and the beautiful oak openings suggested the present name of Onkfield. It is about equally divided between the high oak openings and prairie. That portion of Iloricon Marsh which extends into Oakfield has been drained, and is now mostly tillable land. The Ledge is very prominent in this town. It furnishes lime, building material, delicious springs and picturesque scenery - Darling's Gap," a wild spot near the village of Oakfield, being the most notable and attractive. Its winding crevices, deep caverns, overhanging precipices and vast domes of disintegrated rocks attract thousands of tourists and picnickers.

Passage source: The History of Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin, published 1880.

The first settlement was begun in 1810, south of the present village of Oakfield, by Russell Wilkinson, who came with his family from Rensselaer County, N. Y., early that year, and built a log house. The Winnebago Indians were very numerous about the Ledge then, owing to the abundance of game in its retreats, and were highly displeased by the invasion of the paleface. They stole nearly everything he possessed that was movable, and finally burned bis home with all its contents. Mr. Wilkinson then procured a yoke of oxen and removed his wife, who was in delicate health, to the house of Edward Pier, at Fond du Lac. The Indians then held undisputed sway in that section until October, 1813, when Mr. AVdkinson and his brotlier Robert recurned to the farm and made a permanent settlement. They were for some time the only white denizens of the town, but were joined not much later by John Wilkinson, John Beirne, S. Botsford and Messrs. Silvernail, Ilubbard and Ilazen. When once the richness and^warmth of the soil, the beauty of the location ami the healtlifulness of the climate became generally known, tiie town settled with wonderful rapidity, and has always maintained itself in the front rank of prosperous and populous towns.

Passage source: The History of Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin, published 1880.

The first post' office was established at Avoca, one mile east of what is now the village of Oakfield, on Section 13. Isaac Orvis was the first Postmaster. Henry Cornell is the present Postmaster of Oakfield, as it has many years been called.

Passage source: The History of Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Oakfield Town - it names this place 16 more 16 times.

Fires near this place

17 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 17 fires within 5 miles of Oakfield between 1997 and 2020, burning about 178 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Arson/incendiarism	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
4 August 2003	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Leopold Wetland Management District	NKING CHASE
5 June 1997	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Leopold Wetland Management District	BRADLEY2
4 May 2003	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Leopold Wetland Management District	SCHOENBERG
21 May 1997	Debris and open burning	30 acres	Leopold Wetland Management District	BRADLEY RD
2 May 2020	Equipment and vehicle use	3.0 acres	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	2005016
3 April 2001	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Leopold Wetland Management District	MANTHEYW
25 April 2018	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	1804019
24 April 2003	Debris and open burning	3.8 acres	Leopold Wetland Management District	GATOR

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fond du Lac County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Oakfield: 4 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
El Dais Stone Company Plant	Stone	Past Producer
Oakfield & Byron Quarries	Stone	Unknown
Fond Du Lac Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Lehner Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Panetti Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, Dimension	Past Producer
Oak Stone Quarry	Limestone, Dimension	Past Producer
Oakfield Quarry	Limestone, Dimension	Producer
Oakfield Quarry,Eden Stone Co Inc	Limestone, Dimension	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Fond du Lac County

Storms near this place

14 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oakfield in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2022: 7 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 3 tornado. The reports record 12 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 1996	Tornado (F5)	Oakfield	12 hurt, $39,500,000	no account filed
April 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$250,000	no account filed
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$100,000	no account filed
June 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$100,000	no account filed
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$20,000	A tree fell onto a garage causing structural damage and damage to the vehicle inside. Numerous tree damage including an uprooted tree and the trunks of smaller trees split.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$3,000	Several trees down.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$1,000	A tree down and shingles blown off a shed.
September 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Oakfield	$500	no account filed
August 2018	Tornado (EF0)	Oakfield	-	Tornado was 1 of 19 tornadoes that occurred across central to east central Wisconsin on the afternoon of August 28th. This tornado went through mainly rural areas southwest of Oakfield and crossed Kinwood Rd. Widespread straight line winds caused significant tree and crop damage across the county as well.
August 2015	Hail	Oakfield	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Oakfield	-	no account filed
October 2006	Hail	Oakfield	-	no account filed
July 1996	Tornado (F0)	Oakfield	-	no account filed
July 1996	Hail	Oakfield	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fond du Lac County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Oak Center	3.3 miles	10
Lamartine	3.5 miles	10
South Byron	4.6 miles	9
Hamilton (historical)	4.7 miles	9
Byron	5.6 miles	9
Rogersville	6.3 miles	10
Woodhull	6.5 miles	10
Ladoga	7.2 miles	10

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Oakfield	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2671429	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1570697. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.