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History · Ashland

Ashland’s post office opened in 1900

Most of Ashland was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1947 on.

1900first post office
0on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Ashland began

When was Ashland founded?

1900

The Ashland post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Skidder (1903), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 194126 years
Founding year: the first Ashland post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Ashland’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ashland’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ashland’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewLillian Dupree 001: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Ashland, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ashland yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1900. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 269 to 194 (-28%).

Timeline

Ashland, 1900 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1900Post officeThe Ashland post office opens
  3. 1903Post officeThe Skidder post office opens
  4. 1905Post officeThe Skidder post office closes
  5. 1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1955In the archiveLillian Dupree 001
By decade

Ashland, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s1 item
Lillian Dupree 0011955Lillian Dupree 001
1960s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today11 recent
Revised photo Hathorn Cemetery (2011) IMG 50692011Revised photo Hathorn Cemetery (2011) IMG 5069First grave, Hathorn Cemetery, Ashland, LA IMG 24712011First grave, Hathorn Cemetery, Ashland, LA IMG 2471LA Hwy. 153 in Ashland, LA IMG 00642010LA Hwy. 153 in Ashland, LA IMG 0064Revised photo of Ramah Cemetery gate IMG 21072009Revised photo of Ramah Cemetery gate IMG 2107Revised photo of Ashland, LA, highway scene IMG 21202009Revised photo of Ashland, LA, highway scene IMG 2120Graves at Hathorn Cemetery, Ashland, LA IMG 07432009Graves at Hathorn Cemetery, Ashland, LA IMG 0743Ramah Cemetery, Ashland, LA IMG 16292008Ramah Cemetery, Ashland, LA IMG 1629Highway 153 in Ashland, LA IMG 16272008Highway 153 in Ashland, LA IMG 1627Hathorn Cemetery homecoming IMG 02202008Hathorn Cemetery homecoming IMG 0220Ashland, LA, entrance sign IMG 16242008Ashland, LA, entrance sign IMG 1624LAMap-doton-Ashland2004LAMap-doton-Ashland
On the map

Ashland on the map, 1947 to 2003

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ashland. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Ashland on the 1947 USGS mapAshland on the 1957 USGS mapAshland on the 1986 USGS mapAshland on the 2003 USGS map1947Ashland sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ashland.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Lillian Dupree 001
Retake this viewLillian Dupree 001, 1955

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ashland’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Ashland’s post office has been open since 1900. Another post office, Skidder, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ashland
1900–today
Skidder
1903–1905
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Skidder
Gone or out of use
Ashland Oil FieldoilfieldFoster Bridgebridge
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ashland
HathornRamah

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Ashland’s history

What year was Ashland founded?

The Ashland post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (12), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.