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History · Avoca

Avoca’s post office opened in 1857, and 52% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1890.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
52%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Avoca began

When was Avoca founded?

1857

The Avoca post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 166 in 18902020 census: 178169 years
Founding year: the first Avoca post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Avoca’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 Avoca are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Avoca’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 270 in 2000; 178 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19034 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1986. Watch Avoca change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Avoca’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avoca’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 Avoca came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Avoca.

Read it all →

Avoca was platted in 1882 when a new railroad line was extended to that point. The village is named after the River Avoca, in Ireland.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Avoca, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 270

Peaked at 270 in 2000; 178 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Timeline

Avoca, 1857 to 2000

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Avoca post office opens
  3. 1886Born hereRobert Leroy Cochran is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 21st century
  7. 2000CensusPopulation peaks at 270
By decade

Avoca, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Avoca, NE2017Avoca, NENEMap-doton-Avoca2005NEMap-doton-Avoca
On the map

Avoca on the map, 1903 to 1986

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

Avoca on the 1903 USGS mapAvoca on the 1929 USGS mapAvoca on the 1966 USGS mapAvoca on the 1986 USGS map1903Weeping Water sheet · 1:125,000

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Avoca’s post office has been open since 1857.

Gone or out of use
Avoca Schoolschool

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

Questions about Avoca’s history

What year was Avoca founded?

The Avoca post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (2), 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.