Ada Bryon Powell Smith was born on November 2nd, 1875, in Mobile, Alabama, to Morgan Powell and Barbara Messing. She became a second grade teacher before moving to Central New York to pursue nursing, and graduated in 1907 from the Hospital of the Good Shepherd in Syracuse, New York. While working in Syracuse, she met Dr. Nathan Cornell Smith, and they married in 1909. They lived in Syracuse and later bought a cottage retreat in Parish, New York, which they named Whippoorwill Lodge. After her husband died, she donated her properties and moved to Central Square, where she set up a mobile home with an addition and lived in the woods on property that is now the American Legion. Local census records say she rented an apartment on Mallery Hill during the winter months, and in time she moved her mobile home behind the Central Square Library. Ada Powell Smith was active in the garden club and in the community, taking on many projects intended to improve the village as a whole. She loved books, nature, and giving, and made private donations to charities such as the Central Square Library. In 1942, she donated this park property to the Village of Central Square. She died in 1955, and the park was dedicated to her in the 1970s, about 15 years later. The 21.6 acre nature park was designed to remain forever wild, with wetlands, scenic overlooks, streams, abundant wildlife, and greenery, and it provides residents of Central Square with a place to learn, view wildlife, walk trails, and remember her contributions to the village.