Ladoga, IN

Ladoga sits on State Road 234 in southeastern Montgomery County, with Main Street running east toward Jamestown and west toward Shades State Park. The town's name came from Lake Ladoga in Russia, which an early settler found on a map and chose for the new community. Central Normal College opened here in 1876 before moving to Danville two years later, leaving Ladoga with a short but memorable college chapter. That history gives the road town more depth than its size suggests.

ATTRNyttend / Public domain

Today Ladoga's local map combines the Main Street corridor, Ladoga Elementary, Ferris Wheel Park, and the wooded recreation of nearby Shades State Park. The town also sits within the wider Wabash River region, with Montgomery County roads connecting farms and small communities to Crawfordsville and other service centers. South Montgomery Community School Corporation serves the area, and Ladoga's old college story survives in local place memory even though the school moved away. The local clue is the mix of an unusual Russian name, a former normal college, and a state-park road leading west.