When the Soo Line Railroad was built in 1910, towns began springing up along the tracks to make use of the new transportation facilities. Oklee was such a town. The small village of Lambert, one mile and a half west of present Oklee had been in existence for several years but it was more that a mile from the railroad. An enterprising man named O.K. Lee, who dealt in real estate, sold some of the Lambert businessmen on the advantages of being closer to the railroad and thus created the birth of Oklee, so named in honor of the owner of the land.
Many of the businesses of Lambert were moved into Oklee along with the building. Even St. Francis Xavier Church was moved into town. Before long, many homes and businesses sprung up in a short time and Oklee was a busy town.
Since Oklee was built near the Lost River, there was always a water problem after rains. At that time the banks of the river were quite low and frequently overflowed. Consequently, Oklee had problems with their streets whenever the rains came. This was rectified in later years when the streets were dug out and surfaced.
While the village of Lambert was predominantly of French ancestry, early Oklee was made up of French, Norwegians and a few other Nationalities. It became a town that worked together to provide the essentials of a good life, such as a fine school system and several churches in the area of the community of Oklee.
The land surrounding Oklee was flat and fertile and provided income for both farmers and merchants aloke. Farming has always been the backbone of the community of Oklee.
While many of our farmsteads have disappeared, we still have many farms in our area that have been in the family for several generations and some over a century.
It is our hope that every individual will share in the pride we feel in our town and surrounding townships.
The recorded history of the ownership of the land on which the Village of Oklee is located dates back to the receiver's receipt issued by the U.S. Government June 22, 1882 to John C. Fitzgerald who became the first legal owner of the west one-mile quarter of section 1, township 150 N. He sold the quarter to Cornelius O'Neill. Since then ownership changed hands several times. It was acquired by Ole and Anne Vattendahl in 1896 who retained ownership for several years. The Tri-State Land Company, a corporation, purchased the land from E.E. Quenroe in 1910.
Mary O'Neill acquired a patent April 12, 1888 to the adjoining quarter to the east. After several changes in ownership the land was purchased by Edward o. Erickson in 1905 who sold it to O. K. Lee in 1909. Mr. Lee sold it to the Tri-State Land Company which had the town site surveyed, platted and named Oklee.
Polk County, but on December 31, 1896 Polk County was divided into two counties to form Polk and Red Lake County with the county seat at Red Lake Falls. Red Lake County at this time included what is now Pennington County, but differences of opinion developed between the people of the northern and southern halves of Red Lake County over the location of the court house, which led to the division of Red Lake County to form Red Lake and Pennington County, November 23, 1910.
The year 1905 is remembered as being very wet. The summer and fall rains made it impossible to harvest the crops on the village site. It, however, was good weather for ducks, as Oklee was situated in an excellent hunting area for water fowl.
In 1909 the Soo Line Railroad surveyed the course of the proposed route in preparation for locating and laying the roadbed. Oklee became the shipping point for freight, but mail which came in had to be addressed to Lambert until 1914 although the post office was located in Oklee. The first lots on the billage site werre auctioned off at a public sale to individual buyers in the spring of 1910. The corner lots were sold for $300 each and the other lots for $250. The lots were sold before there was railroad service or even tracks laid. However, the railroad was in the process of building the roadbed and in September, 1910 the first passenger train came to Oklee.
The summer of 1910 was unusually dry. There was no water in Lost River. The channel was void of water and in its place was green grass. This condition had its advantages as it made it a good year for construction work.
The next few years were destined to bring about change in the town site as there was considerable building activity as new business enterprises came in to locate in what promised to become a prosperous community.
Several buildings were erected on the cillage site during 1910. Peter Husby, local manager of the I.O. Manger Lumber Yard, of McIntosh, brought in the first loads of lumber from McIntosh and erected the first temporary building in Oklee. The one room building served both as an office and a home.
Aerial View of Oklee in 1985
