Oak Park Heights is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. It is on the west bank of the St. Croix River and is included in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The city is just south of Stillwater. Oak Park Heights' population was 4,849 at the 2020 census and had a population density of 1,456 inhabitants per square mile (562.2km<sup>2</sup>). Oak Park Heights has many historical places like the Stillwater Overlook, and the Log Cabin.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of ; is land and is water.

Oak Park Heights is located adjacent to the city of Stillwater. Minnesota State Highways 36 and 95 are two of the main routes in the community.

Climate

Oak Park Heights receives an average annual snowfall of 47 inches (1,193 mm). The average annual rainfall is 34 inches (863 mm). In the summer, temperatures average around 81 °F (27 °C) for a high, and 63 °F (17 °C) for a low. In the winter, temperatures average around 21 °F (-6 °C) for highs, and lows of 3 °F (-16 °C).

History

Oak Park Heights was platted by John Parker, William Dorr, Gold Curtis, Mary Curtis, Olive Anderson, and William M. McCluer with the name Oak Park on May 27, 1857. The plat was located in present day Baytown Township, between Stillwater and South Stillwater (Now called Bayport.) Early settlers included David Cover, a river pilot who came to Oak Park in the 1840s and specialized in logs and lumber, and John Parker, who relocated from St. Croix Falls in 1850.

Oak Park was a prime area for industrial development for many settlers because of the town's close proximity to the St. Croix River. Because of this, in the 1880s, construction began on a sawmill and a barrel making company along the riverfront of Oak Park. In around 1890, Jewish settlers, Moritz and Bertha Bergstein, settled in Oak Park and established and operated a waste materials yard with a warehouse and “shoddy” mill, where waste fabric was recycled into stuffing for mattresses. The Moritz Bergstein Shoddy Mill and Warehouse still stands today in Downtown Stillwater, after being moved from Oak Park Heights when the St. Croix Crossing bridge was being constructed in 2012.thumb|The Moritz Bergstein Shoddy Mill in their original location in Oak Park Heights.Due to Oak Park's proximity to Stillwater, and connectedness to Saint Paul via the Twin City Rapid Transit Company streetcar station in Stillwater in the 1910s, the city attracted a few hundred wealthy residents that built homes on the bluffs overlooking the St. Croix River.

thumb|Club Tara in 2008

In 1938, the community was re-platted and re-named to Oak Park Heights. The town officially incorporated in 1959.

| align-fn = center

| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census<br>2020 Census

100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 2,258 households in Oak Park Heights, of which 15.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 35.3% were married-couple households, 20.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 39.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 48.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 32.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.