From Oakwood Nature Preserve web site :
History: Originally, a privately owned picnic and fishing area, Oakwoods is a successful community preservation effort. Grants and private donations helped the HPD purchase the original woods and lake in 1984, opening to the public in 1985. Railroad tracks and buildings were located in the area of the Richard S. Doc Phillips Discovery Center, but were destroyed by fire in 1916. The Discovery Center was dedicated and opened to the public in 1994.