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History · Ashley

Ashley’s post office opened in 1888, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the McIntosh County Courthouse. Below: maps from 1982 on and the census since 1910.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Ashley began

When was Ashley founded?

1888

The Ashley post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hoskins (1884), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 682 in 19102020 census: 613138 years
Founding year: the first Ashley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Ashley’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 Ashley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,423 in 1950; 613 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Ashley’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ashley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ashley’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
People over time

Ashley, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,423

Peaked at 1,423 in 1950; 613 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ashley’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Ashley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ashley.

Read it all →

Ashley was laid out in 1888 when the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad was extended to that point. The city was named for Ashley E. Morrow, a railroad man. A post office has been in operation at Ashley since 1888. The McIntosh County Courthouse was built in 1919.

Some of the 1,200 Jews who immigrated to North Dakota from the Russian Empire settled under the Homestead Acts in and around Ashley from the 1880s to 1930s. A number of them were buried in the Ashley Jewish Homesteaders Cemetery, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ashley, 1884 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Hoskins post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Hoskins post office closes
  4. 1888Post officeThe Ashley post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1925Born hereFrederick Herzog is born here
  7. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 1,423
  8. 1982On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Ashley, decade by decade

Today18 recent
Ashley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North DakotaAshley, North Dakota2009Ashley, North Dakota
On the map

Ashley on the map in 1982

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ashley.

Ashley on the 1982 USGS map1982Ashley East sheet · 1:24,000

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Ashley

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
McIntosh County Courthouse
McIntosh County Courthouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Beaux Arts Neo Classicism1
McIntosh County CourthouseBeaux Arts Neo Classicism

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Ashley’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Hoskins, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hoskins
1884–1888
Ashley
1888–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Ashley’s history

What year was Ashley founded?

The Ashley post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Ashley?

One place: the McIntosh County Courthouse (listed 1980).

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.