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B−History
History · Avondale Estates

Avondale Estates dates to 1924, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns · #102 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 158 buildings. Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1930.

1924founded
1on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Avondale Estates began

When was Avondale Estates founded?

1924

Avondale Estates dates its founding to 1924 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1930.

First census: 535 in 19302020 census: 3,567102 years

How historic is Avondale Estates?

B−

More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1892.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Avondale Estates’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Avondale Estates is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #102 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Avondale Estates’ overall grade.
Founding era1924, from Wikidata: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 194012.7% of homes (±3.8) · typical GA town 3.8% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 158 historic buildings, 448 per 10,000 residents · typical GA town 10.0 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 53%
NewerOlder
Georgia towns of 2,500+ (263)Ahead of 61%

Georgia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Georgia town has 10.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Avondale Estates’ 448 sits above most of its state (88% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 158 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). Two sources give 1924.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Avondale Estates’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Avondale Estates Historic District takes in 158 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Avondale Estates are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 158 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
158
each building in a district counts
first listed
1986
Avondale Estates Historic District
Avondale Estates Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Tudor Revival1
English Cottage1
Dutch Colonial Revival1
Craftsman/Bungalow1
Victorian1
Colonial Revival1
Avondale Estates Historic DistrictTudor Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start Avondale Estates’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avondale Estates’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Avondale Estates came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Avondale Estates.

Read it all →

In the 1890s, lots were sold in the area, which was known as Ingleside.

Avondale Estates was founded in 1924 by George Francis Willis, a patent medicine magnate, who purchased the entire village of Ingleside to create a planned community. The city was named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England, birthplace of Shakespeare. Downtown buildings were designed in a Tudor style to reinforce this image, as were many of the houses in the city. The city incorporated in 1927.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Avondale Estates, 1892 to 1954

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Ingleside post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1924
    FoundingAvondale Estates is established
  5. 1925Post officeThe Ingleside post office closes
  6. 1925Post officeThe Avondale Estates post office opens
  7. 1927Born hereW. Watts Biggers is born here
  8. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Avondale Estates, decade by decade

Today7 recent
Dekalb County Fire Station No 32016Dekalb County Fire Station No 3Bicycle Rack made out of skis and golf clubs2016Bicycle Rack made out of skis and golf clubsAikido Center of Atlanta with redbud trees in bloom2016Aikido Center of Atlanta with redbud trees in bloomU.S. Route 2782013U.S. Route 278Downtown2012DowntownDowntown Avondale Estates Street Corner2012Downtown Avondale Estates Street CornerAvondale2006Avondale
On the map

Avondale Estates on the map, 1954 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Avondale Estates. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Avondale Estates on the 1954 USGS mapAvondale Estates on the 1968 USGS mapAvondale Estates on the 1973 USGS mapAvondale Estates on the 1983 USGS mapAvondale Estates on the 1993 USGS map1954Northeast Atlanta sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Avondale Estates.

People over time

Avondale Estates, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,500194019601980200020203,567

Grew from 535 people in 1930 to 3,567 in 2020, 6 times over.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Avondale Estates’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Avondale Estates’s post office has been open since 1925. Another post office, Ingleside, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Ingleside
1892–1925
Avondale Estates
1925–today
18901960today
Gone or out of use
American Legion Golf CourselocaleForest Lawn Golf Courselocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

ScottdaleIts storyDDecatur19 historic placesABelvedere ParkIts storyD

Questions about Avondale Estates’ history

What year was Avondale Estates founded?

In 1924, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Avondale Estates’ post office opened in 1892, and the census of 1930 counted 535 people here.

How does Avondale Estates rank for history?

Avondale Estates is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns, #102 of 263 in Georgia. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Avondale Estates?

One place: the Avondale Estates Historic District (listed 1986).

How old are the homes in Avondale Estates?

13% of Avondale Estates’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1966.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.