Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #328 of 701 in Michigan. What drives it
Most of Ada Township was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Its Register listing is the Ada Covered Bridge. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1918 on.
The Ada Township post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Chapel (1884), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ada Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #328 of 701 in Michigan. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Few Michigan towns list much on the Register (a typical Michigan town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Ada Township’s 0.7 sits near the middle of its state (65% of Michigan towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ada Township’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ada Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ada Township.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereKirk O'Bee is born here
Born hereKevin Grady is born here
Born hereAdam Grinwis is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Ada Township.
At the turn of the 19th century, the land that would become Ada was a village of the Grand River Band of Ottawa, led by Nebawnaygezhick.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2025Amway Headquarters
2025Ada, Michigan
2025Ada Dam, Thornapple River
2025Ada Covered Bridge
2019WestMichiganHinduTemple WMHT Ada MI 2019 10 10 16 07 …
2019Ada Township Park
2010Polo umpire
2008USSS CAT Bush
2006Ada Michigan ThornappleRiver Dam DSCN9695
2006Ada Michigan StreetSceneDSCN9716
2006Ada Michigan Amway HQ DSCN9720
2006Ada MI GrandRiver DSCN9684
2006Ada Covered Bridge TIGER mapMapNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ada Township’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Another post office, Chapel, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Ada Township post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Ada Township is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #328 of 701 in Michigan. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Ada Covered Bridge (listed 1970).
3% of Ada Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.5 points), against a typical 12% for a Michigan town; the median home was built in 1994.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (14), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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