The Oaklawn Community Baptist Church was built in 1879, replacing the Friends Meeting House, which was moved.

A painted sign at the entrance from Oaklawn Avenue to the historic district of Oaklawn village in Cranston is placed over a former railroad bridge and adorned with an image of a train.

But settlement in Oaklawn preceded the introduction in 1872 of the Providence-to-Hartford Railroad there. Oaklawn may be the city’s most historic neighborhood.

It was the site of Cranston’s first town meeting, in 1754, and a church in Oaklawn, or Searle’s Corner, as it was known then, hosted the first May breakfast held in the United States, in 1868.

In 1662, the Meschanticut purchase, in which 11 individuals bought 4,000 acres from the Cowesett Indians, allowed the first European settlement in the area.

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The oldest house still standing in Oaklawn, a red stone-ender at Wilbur and Wheelock avenues, was built in 1677 by Edward Searle, son-in-law of one of the original land purchasers. A large chalkboard perched on the front porch of that house often contains a message or comment from the residents for passersby.

Many of the earliest settlers in Oaklawn left the area for New York State after a series of Indian raids around the time of King Philip’s War. But by 1729, Quaker settlers built a Meeting House in Oaklawn — the site of that famous May breakfast in 1868, organized by Roby Wilbur.

The Meeting House was later moved behind a new church that was built in its place.

According to a history of Oaklawn written in 1957 by Gladys Brayton, that Friends Meeting House “has only recently been torn down,” which Brayton lamented as “an irretrievable historic loss to this historic village.” In its place is the Oaklawn Community Baptist Church, at 229 Wilbur Ave., which was built in 1879. In keeping with tradition, the church will be hosting a May breakfast on Thursday, May 1, from 6 to 11 a.m.

Roby Wilbur’s husband, Job Wilbur, was credited with changing the name of the area from Searle’s Corner to Oaklawn. According to Brayton’s account, Job Wilbur “offered to set out a thousand oak trees if the name could be changed to Oak Lawn.…”

“The oaks never materialized or died in infancy,” she added, “But Mr. Wilbur did give us a more euphonious name, at any rate.”

There were eight houses for sale in Oaklawn last week, but the offerings did not include any of the historic residences the area is known for. The price range started at $169,900 for a 1934 ranch, with two bedrooms, one bath, and 828 square feet of space, to $285,000 for a 1967 Cape with three bedrooms, two baths and 1,757 square feet of space.

POPULATION:

(Cranston, 2000) 79,269

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(Cranston, 2007) $243,750

INTERESTING FACT:

Many of the late Victorian houses in Oaklawn village were built by a local carpenter named Henry Pratt. His workshop is at Vinton and Searle avenues.

cdunn@projo.com