Ada’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Ada. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Ada was laid out in 1874 and incorporated on February 9, 1881. It was named in honor of a daughter of William H. Fisher (the namesake of Fisher, Minnesota), of St. Paul, then attorney and superintendent of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, under whose superintendency this line of the Red River Valley was constructed. A post office has been in operation at Ada since 1876. As Norman County grew in the 1880s, they were outgrowing their current space being used as a county courthouse in Ada, and erecting a new building was on the horizon. At the time, Norman County was bigger than today, with Twin Valley roughly at the geographic center. Starting in 1900, Twin Valley worked to rally support behind the goal of building the new courthouse there, turning it into the county seat as well. Two petitions and one vote later, Ada won the challenge. In 1906, it became a moot point when Mahnome…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Ada’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ada’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewTaft trip, Ada, Minn. (Minnesota), 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Ada
See all 5 →
Ada, decade by decade
1990s
3 historic places in Ada
3 places in Ada are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Listed 1983Norman County Courthouse
Listed 1984Congregational Church of Ada
Listed 1998Ada Village HallThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Taft trip, Ada, Minn. (Minnesota) (1908) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4) and the National Register (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.