ABOUT

Oaks is a village located in Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 18 miles (30 km) northwest of Philadelphia. Its boundaries are defined in large part by the village's position at the junction of Perkiomen Creek and the Schuylkill River.

History
The two waterways defined much of the village's early history. In 1825, the Schuylkill Navigation Companycompleted the Schuylkill Canal and Brower's Locks at Oaks, and the system was heavily traveled. The village of Oaks was named after the canal's designer, Thomas Oakes. Later in the nineteenth century, the railroadlargely supplanted the role of the canal. The Perkiomen Railroad built the Oaks station in 1868. The Philadelphia and Reading, sometimes referred to as the Reading Railroad, merged the short line as its Perkiomen Branch. Oaks village cropped up around the station.Famous residents of Oaks have included Jacob G. Francis, founder of Elizabethtown College, and Harry Whittier Frees.