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History · Ada Township

Ada Township dates to 1900

Most of Ada Township was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1896 on.

1900founded
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Ada Township began

When was Ada Township founded?

1900

Ada Township dates its founding to 1900 (Wikipedia’s history). Its post office opened in 1883.

2020 census: 29126 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1883.The full story ↓

What stands out about Ada Township’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Ada Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Ada Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ada Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Weston
1883–1887
Silverleaf
1887–1938
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Silverleaf
Gone or out of use
Westonlocale

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

The story

How Ada Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ada Township.

Read it all →

Ada Township was first settled in the early 1880s. Originally part of Weston Township, which at the time covered two survey townships in Townships 129 and 130N, Range 61W.

Ada was organized around 1900 from the southern of the two townships and the northern one was renamed Kent Township.

The village of Silverleaf, built in 1887, is located 7 miles east of Ellendale, and was once the major population center in the township. The town reported around 25 residents in the late 1910s, and never seemed to exceed more than 50. It is little more than a ghost town today.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ada Township, 1883 to 1938

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1883Post officeThe Weston post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Weston post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Silverleaf post office opens
  5. 1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900
    FoundingAda Township is established
  8. 1938Post officeThe Silverleaf post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Ada Township on the map, 1896 to 1985

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

Ada Township on the 1896 USGS mapAda Township on the 1985 USGS map1896Columbia sheet · 1:125,000

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.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Kent TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townPort Emma TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townVan Meter Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Ada Township’s history

What year was Ada Township founded?

In 1900, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ada Township’s post office opened in 1883.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
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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 Wikipedia, 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.