Oak Bay was home to the local Coast Salish people of the Songhees First Nation long before the arrival of Europeans,.

Evidence of their encampments has been found along local shores, including Willows Beach, where an ancient Lkwungen seaport known as Sitchanalth was centred around the mouth of the river now known as Bowker Creek. Sitchanalth is hypothesized to have been destroyed by the great Tsunami of 930AD.

Oak Bay takes its name from the Garry Oak tree, which are found throughout the region, and the name of the large bay on the Eastern shore of the municipality, fronting onto Willows Beach.

John Tod in 1850 built on a 109-acre farm what is today the oldest continuously-occupied home in Western Canada. John Tod was HBC Chief Fur Trader for Kamloops, one of the original appointed members of BC's Legislative Council.

Originally developed as a middle class streetcar suburb of Victoria, Oak Bay was incorporated as a municipality in 1906.

Its first Council included Francis Rattenbury, the architect who designed the Legislative Buildings and Empress Hotel located on the inner harbour in Victoria. Rattenbury's own home on Beach Drive is now used as the junior campus for Glenlyon Norfolk School.

In 1912 the former farm lands of the Hudson's Bay Company were subdivided to create the Uplands area, but development was hampered by World War I. After the war, development of expensive homes in the Uplands was accompanied by the construction of many more modest dwellings in the Estevan, Willows and South Oak Bay neighbourhoods.

In addition to being an attractive retirement area, Oak Bay has also long appealed to families with young children and others seeking safe and well-maintained neighbourhoods.

Oak Bay boasts wonderful beaches, the Oak Bay Marina, the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, and the Royal Victoria Yacht Club located on the shore of Cadboro Bay.

Fun Fact: Tod House, located at 2564 Heron Street, was built in 1850 and is the oldest home in Oak Bay