ABOVE The Oak Park School was built by
John T. Ragan and Company of Vidalia
in 1922 for $10,000 and taught grades
1-12 until the 1960s. It then served as an
elementary school until its closure in 1983.
The town purchase the school from the
Emanuel County Board of Education for
$100 that year. It remained vacant until
the past decade. Concerned citizens in the
community who call themselves the Shiners
fund-raise and host the Moonshine Festival
annually to support renovation efforts.
The Oak Park History Project is working to
preserve the 20th century history of the
town that will be featured in an exhibit at its
centennial celebration in 2022.
HOMETOWN L I V ING AT ITS BEST 95
A publication of local history reports
that the town was named after Horace
Williamson, whose family had occupied
the land since shortly after the French
and Indian War. During those times,
waterways were the main mode of
transportation. Oak Park is close to the
Ohoopee River and heavily wooded,
which was perfect for the timber
industry because they would use the
waterways to transport the timber.
By 1907, Horace had been changed
to Oak Park. Although previous
researchers were unable to locate
the original town charter, a Google
search in 2019 led to the discovery of
a 1907 charter. This charter further
demonstrates the dependence of Oak
Park on transportation; the city limits
are set as a one-half mile radius of the
train depot. While the train depot and
rails no longer exist, this information
revealed the location of the depot
to have been where the park and
community house sit today.
Finding the first charter was
followed by finding a repeal for that
charter. Two charters for the city
have been located thus far, but it is
likely (from the dates of each charter)
that there are at least one, and more
likely two, more charters in Oak Park’s
history. Discoveries like this are not
uncommon and lead to a more complete
picture of what Oak Park looked like at
its peak. Similarly, finding information
about the first train in Oak Park was
exciting. Imagine the delight of the
community when it was discovered that
two separate trains came through town!
Local train history is difficult
to follow because of the frequent
changes made to lines, as well as the
frequency with which they added new
lines and the innumerable amount of
depots found throughout the rural
south. Much of the history has been
lost and what railroad history does
1974
2012