Hadley, originally known as Summit Lake, is located in Leeds Township, within three miles of being the center of Murray County. The prairie village sits on a hill overlooking Summit Lake, for which the town was named. The lake is 80 acres in size and is the tributary to Beaver Creek. The village was surveyed on October 1, 1879 for the branch line of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad Company. At this time, Summit Lake was then renamed, "Hadley" by the railroad officials. At one time there were only two villages in Murray County located on the branch rail line, Hadley and Avoca. Hadley was the third village in the county to be platted and had four streets and four avenues.

The residents of Hadley can trace their ancestors back to the first brave settlers who came from Norway when Native Americans camped on the shores of Summit Lake. Hans Simonson, the first settler arrived in June 1872. The next was Christian Christiansen who arrived in October, the same year. Then came Gilbert Johnson, and Theodore Knutson, closely followed by Claus Clausen, L.O. Solem, Peter Thompson, Nels Sevenson, Hans Jacobson, Olus Johnson, and Sven Nilson.

For more information and a complete listing of families in Leeds Township search Early Western Murray County History by Robert Forrest.

One of the first things the early settlers did was to establish a place of worship. The oldest Lutheran congregation in Murray County, originally known as Beaver Creek Church, is the Hadley Lutheran Church. It served a territory ranging from Lake Shetek on the north, six miles east of Slayton and as far west and south as Chandler and Lake Wilson. From official papers, Leeds Township was the foundation of the Lutheran Church in Murray County. The celebration of the Hadley Lutheran Church 125-year anniversary was held on June 20 and 21, 1998.

The Scandinavians in Leeds Township knew that education and learning the English language were essential. The first school was held in the winter of 1874, when Miss. Ida Peterson went from home to home, spending a week at each place. She received one dollar a week, sometimes less, and her board. The first school house was built at the Claus Clauson farm in 1878. In 1880, one team of horses and one yoke of oxen hauled the schoolhouse to Hadley. It was 12 X 14 and had 34 pupils. The school term was three months.

Baseball was organized in Hadley in 1882, which is one of the earliest baseball teams organized in the State of Minnesota. Baseball masks, catchers mitts, and pads were unknown at that time. No town the size of Hadley can equal the winning record over the years of the Hadley Buttermakers. The team received its name "Buttermakers" from the occupation of churning butter at the Hadley Creamery.

One of the most important establishment was the Hadley Co-operative creamery, which was organized by farmers and Hadley businessmen in 1905. At one time Hadley had the largest creamery in Southwest Minnesota. The creamery was built on land donated by Alex Lowe. Gus Block was the first butter maker. The first batch of butter churned in the new creamery amounted to 628 pounds. It was called Hadley Gilt Edged Butter. A new modern brick creamery was built in 1922 on the shore of Summit Lake. Due to an increase demand and business, the creamery installed a buttermilk dryer, locker plant and egg buying station. By 1946, the creamery had manufactured 26,650,000 pounds of butter and paid producers over $8,250.000, including interest. In the middle 1960's the Hadley Co-operative Creamery went out of business. In 1967 the building was purchased by the Hadley Sportsman Club and made available for different community functions. Today the building is a private home.

Hadley, at one time, had a livery stable, butcher shop, hotel, bank, creamery, elevator, dray line, doctor, two grocery stores, hardware store, John Deere implement shop, lumber yard, saloon, garage, blacksmith shop, town hall, and sometimes one or two restaurants.

In the 1970's the railroad company made the decision to abandon the railroad lines in Murray County, due to the changing times. Today the tracks have been ripped up and hauled away leaving no sign of what once was. Hadley, like so many other farming communities created by the railroads in the 1870's never had a large economical growth to encourage others to come into the community or to provide jobs for the youth to stay. Today, Hadley is a community that has maintained a strong religious background, a desire for education, a respect for the land, and the love of baseball.