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History · Avilla

Avilla dates to 1858, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Bank of Avilla. Below: maps from 1921 on and the census since 1930.

1858founded

1on the National Register

31%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Photo: Eric Swanger · CC BY-SA 3.0

Quick answers

How Avilla began, and where its name came from

When was Avilla founded?

1858

Avilla dates its founding to 1858 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1930.

First census: 165 in 19302020 census: 103168 years

How did Avilla get its name?

Avilla, Missouri, was named on or before 1858, based on plat documentation.

More on the name

However, the origin of the name remains a mystery.

Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1860. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Avilla’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Avilla are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Avilla’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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The story

How Avilla came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Avilla.

Read it all →

Pioneers who came to this region in the 1830s and 1840s saw a "beautiful prairie land, interspersed with timbered belts along winding streams". Settlement of the grasslands presented more challenges than other types of terrain, and for this reason, northeastern Jasper County developed more slowly than the rest of the county. Split-log homes were built near wooded locations, and rock and sod were also used in early constructions. Although families were many miles apart, they still called each other neighbors. Some of the earliest settlers near present-day Avilla were John K. Gibson in 1831 (just across the Lawrence County line), James Blackwell in 1835, and John Fishburn on White Oak Creek in 1836. Nelson Knight was the first settler on the prairie north of Avilla, building a cabin and farm in 1837, and Jasper County itself was established in 1841. Thomas Buck came all the way from India…

Chapters1831–1861 1861–1865 1865–1900 1900–1970 1970 – present

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Avilla in 1883

Passages that mention Avilla, cut from the printed page as they were published.

**The history of Jasper county, Missouri**1883 · page 897Read the page →
Read the text
Avilla. — The pleasant little rural village of Avilla is located in the eastern portion of Jasper county, about four miles west of the Lawrence county line. It stands in one of the finest agricultural regions of southwest Mis- 57
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

from time to time, frequently changed the boundaries of the circuit, but the following constitutes a correct list of pastors: Rev. E. P. F. Wells, 1868-69; Rev. W. A. Stephens, 1870; and Rev. I. Entwistle, 1871. As the town of Avilla contained the parsonage, the residence of the pastor, the formati… — **The history of Jasper county, Missouri**1883 · page 213Read the page →
Read the text
from time to time, frequently changed the boundaries of the circuit, but the following constitutes a correct list of pastors: Rev. E. P. F. Wells, 1868-69; Rev. W. A. Stephens, 1870; and Rev. I. Entwistle, 1871. As the town of Avilla contained the parsonage, the residence of the pastor, the formation of a new circuit called Avilla changed very much the strength and character of the Carthage circuit. The remaining portion with additional, newly developed appointments, was served in 1872 by Rev. A. Y. Grayham; 1873-74, by Rev. J, M. Stone, yet an honored citizen of this county. The work was
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Avilla, 1858 to 1921

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

19th century
1858
FoundingAvilla is established
1860Post officeThe Avilla post office opens
1884Born hereWalter Stemmons is born here
20th century
1921On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Avilla, decade by decade

Today3 recent

2024Avilla School

2004MOMap-doton-Avilla

2000AvillaMo2000

On the map

Avilla on the map, 1921 to 1971

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

1921Sarcoxie sheet · 1:62,500

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

On the National Register

1 historic place in Avilla

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

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

2022

Bank of Avilla

Buildings

All 1 listings

Bank of AvillaBuilding · listed 2022

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

People over time

Avilla, census by census

Between 99 and 178 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Questions about Avilla’s history

What year was Avilla founded?

In 1858, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Avilla’s post office opened in 1860, and the census of 1930 counted 165 people here.

What is on the National Register in Avilla?

One place: the Bank of Avilla (listed 2022).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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