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History · Avard

Avard’s post office opened in 1895, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1969 on and the census since 1910.

1895first post office
0on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Avard began

When was Avard founded?

1895

The Avard post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 170 in 19102020 census: 11131 years
Founding year: the first Avard post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Avard’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 Avard are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 212 in 1930; 11 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Avard’s homes were built before 1946.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Avard’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avard’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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People over time

Avard, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020Peak: 212

Peaked at 212 in 1930; 11 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Avard came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Avard.

Read it all →

The post office was first established in Avard on June 1, 1895 and the town was incorporated in 1904 where the tracks of the Frisco, extending westward from Enid, tied into the line of the Santa Fe. The town was named for Isabell Avard Todd, the wife of Robert Todd. The town was served by the Southern Arkansas Railway (Santa Fe) and Arkansas Valley and Western Railroad (Frisco).

Avard had mercantile establishments, two hotels, a bank, a livestock auction, and an elevator. A weekly newspaper, the Avard Tribune operated from 1904 to 1918. It was a major cattle shipping point for the area.

It was an important rail transfer point for freight and passengers from 1910 to 1930.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Avard, 1895 to 1969

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1895Post officeThe Avard post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 212
  5. 1963Post officeThe Avard post office closes
  6. 1969On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Avard on the map, 1969 to 1990

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

Avard on the 1969 USGS mapAvard on the 1985 USGS mapAvard on the 1990 USGS map1969Avard 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 Avard.

Famous people

Famous people close to Avard

Nobody well known was born in Avard itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Troy RuttmanAmerican racing driver · b. 1930
Jack GingUnited States actor and sportsman · b. 1931
Wayne GlasgowAmerican basketball player · b. 1926
S
Steve OwenAmerican football player and coach · b. 1898
M
Marilyn MasonAmerican organist and music educator · b. 1925
C
Carla StovallAmerican politician · b. 1957
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Avard had its own post office from 1895 to 1963.

Avard
1895–1963
18901960today

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

Questions about Avard’s history

What year was Avard founded?

The Avard post office opened in 1895, 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 Wikipedia, 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.