The place was named after a grove of several large oak trees there, as the new Post Office built in 1910 required a name.[1][2] The Post Office originally opened as Mangapai Wharf, but was renamed Oakleigh on 1 February 1913. The Post Office closed on 1 June 1945.[3]
The settlement had a railway station from 1923 to 1975.[4] In 1947, the station was unstaffed but had a small passenger shelter, a 30 foot by 20 foot goods shed, a loading bank, sheep and cattle yards, and room for 97 wagons on two loop sidings.[5] The proposed Marsden Point Branch line to Northport will leave the North Auckland Line at Oakleigh.
^McGavin, T. A. (1985). NZR Working Timetable, North Island, July 1947, Facsimile Reprint. Wellington: NZ Railway and Locomotive Society Inc. pp. 218, 229. ISBN0-908573-44-8.