Oakville is a compact city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, on the north shore of the Chehalis River just downstream from where the Black River joins it. Incorporated in 1905, the community grew out of the lumber, railroad, and farming economy of the lower Chehalis Valley. Early settlers reached the area by way of the river system, entering from Grays Harbor and working inland along the Chehalis, and the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway around 1890 brought a train station, stores, a school, and hotels to what had been a small prairie town. The name Oakville, chosen for the post office in 1873, honors the Garry oaks that grow in the area. Today Oakville remains a small, rural city of roughly 715 residents spread across less than a square mile. The hills of the Capitol State Forest rise to the north, while the Chehalis Reservation of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis lies to the east, and the two rivers shape both daily life and the local floodplain. U.S. Highway 12 runs through town, connecting it westward toward Aberdeen and east toward Interstate 5 near Tenino and Grand Mound. The local economy reflects the town's small scale: a grocery, a few diners, an organic bedding manufacturer, an auction house, and a chip plant, along with farms on the outskirts. Community life centers on an Independence Day parade, the Zucchini Jubilee, a harvest festival, and a grange hall known for its oyster dinner. Students attend the Oakville School District, which operates one elementary, middle, and high school, and a voter-approved bond funded a new elementary building. Recreation is immediate and varied: boating, fishing, and swimming on the Chehalis and Black rivers, and hiking, hunting, camping, horseback riding, and mountain biking in the Capitol State Forest. The Oakville Regional Event Center hosts rodeos and adventure races, and Al Brandt Municipal Park provides playground and picnic space near city hall. Major floods in 1996 and 2007 were federally declared disasters, a reminder that the riverside setting brings both recreation and occasional high water.