Oakdale Township.
Oakdale Township was organized in 1858, named for the oak savanna and dale topography characteristic of eastern Washington County. The township covered the area between what would become Maplewood to the west and Lake Elmo to the east. The land was a mix of rolling moraine, small lakes, and oak woodland — good for farming once cleared, and unremarkable enough to stay agricultural for over a century.
A century of farming.
For more than a hundred years Oakdale stayed rural. Family farms with small dairy operations, truck crops for the Saint Paul markets, and scattered homesteads defined the township. The 1950 census put population under 1,000. Growth started in the early 1960s as the post-war housing boom finally reached the eastern edge of the metro, but most of the township remained agricultural through the 1970s.
Village of Oakdale.
Oakdale incorporated as a village in 1974, very late by metro standards — by then I-94 had been operational for over a decade and I-694 had cut the township in half north-south. The interstate access made Oakdale an attractive bedroom community for the Saint Paul labor market, and the new village government took authority over what was already an accelerating residential development pattern. The original 1960s and 1970s ramblers near the village core formed the first wave of suburban housing.
The walkout era.
The 1980s and 1990s brought the bulk of current Oakdale housing — walkout split-levels and ranch-style homes built on the rolling moraine terrain that favors below-grade exposed lower levels. The walkout typology became almost a signature of Oakdale construction; the topography made it economical, and homebuyers wanted the natural-light lower-level living space. Poured concrete foundations became standard during this period, with first-generation drain tile and sump systems.
Continued infill.
Growth continued through the 2000s and 2010s on the remaining buildable acreage — smaller subdivisions on the western and southern edges, plus condominium and townhome developments along the main commercial corridors. Today Oakdale has around 28,000 residents and a housing mix that spans roughly six decades. Less dense than Woodbury, more compact than Lake Elmo.
Glacial till on the moraine.
Surface geology across Oakdale is late Wisconsin glacial till — a clay-rich moraine with sandy lenses and occasional gravel deposits. The underlying bedrock is Prairie du Chien dolomite (the same as Woodbury to the southeast), but it sits deeper here under thicker drift cover, so karst effects on basement water are less pronounced than in some south-metro cities. The terrain is gently rolling with several small lakes — Tanner's Lake, Eagle Point Lake — marking glacial kettle features.
The walkout topography that defines so many Oakdale homes is itself a function of the moraine — homes are built into the natural slopes, with the lower level exposed on the downhill side. This creates a specific set of waterproofing challenges around the transition between the exposed walkout wall and the buried sections of the foundation.
Why Oakdale basements leak today.
An Oakdale leak follows the construction era:
- The 1960s-1970s village-era rambler. Concrete block, now sixty years old, characteristic mortar joint failure. Interior drain tile work is the standard fix.
- The 1980s-1990s walkout split-level. Poured concrete with first-generation drain tile reaching end of useful life. The walkout-exposed wall transition often has its own water management problems independent of the buried perimeter.
- The 2000s-and-newer tract home. Modern poured concrete on engineered backfill, generally sound, but with the universal newer-house issues: undersized original sump pump, surface discharge that freezes or floods the wrong yard.
What this means for your home.
For the oldest block-foundation ramblers, the honest answer is usually a full interior drain tile system with a modern sump and battery backup. For the walkout-era split-levels, we often combine an interior tile system on the buried perimeter with targeted attention to the walkout-wall transition. For the newer construction, the high-leverage opening move is typically a sump replacement and discharge correction — much less drastic than a full system rebuild. Every scope is backed by our lifetime transferable warranty.