The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗A post office was opened in Shirley in 1868 (also known as Elm Creek, it is now part of Shirley Township, averaging a population of 40), but the post office was moved to Ames in 1878 and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1993.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Be one of the first
Start Ames’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ames’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10By decade
Ames, decade by decade
Before
2000
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your albumNational Register of Historic Places
Nothing in Ames is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Ames has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Clyde School in Clyde, 2.9 miles away.
Ames and the nearest listed places
Dashed line = Ames. Tap a dot.
How a place gets listed
1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Clyde School’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in Ames?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to Ames’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old placeNational Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.