 About 17.5% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.7% of those under age 18 and 23.1% of those age 65 or over.In the first few decades of Oakville, the area had a booming trade in lumber, with logging and mills providing a flourishing foundation to the economy, and with many other businesses springing up to sell to the workers these trades brought in.As the timber industry faded, many of the other businesses shut down as well.