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History · Avinger

Avinger’s post office opened in 1877, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1880.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0
Quick answers

How Avinger began

When was Avinger founded?

1877

The Avinger post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hickory Hill (1848), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 63 in 18802020 census: 371149 years
Founding year: the first Avinger post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Avinger’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 Avinger are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 730 in 1960; 371 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Avinger’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Avinger’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

Avinger, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 730

Peaked at 730 in 1960; 371 people lived here in 2020.

10 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story so far

Avinger, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Avinger yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Avinger is a town in Cass County, in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 444 at the 2010 census, and 371 at the 2020 U.S. census. State Representative David Simpson, a Republican from Longview, served from 1993 to 1998 as the mayor of Avinger.

Its first post office opened in 1877. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 444 to 371 (-16%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Avinger, 1848 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Hickory Hill post office opens
  3. 1877Post officeThe Hickory Hill post office closes
  4. 1877Post officeThe Avinger post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1960CensusPopulation peaks at 730
  7. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Avinger, decade by decade

Today3 recent
City of Avinger, Texas - Water Tower2019City of Avinger, Texas - Water TowerAvinger12015Avinger1TXMap-doton-Avinger2004TXMap-doton-Avinger
On the map

Avinger on the map, 1962 to 1986

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

Avinger on the 1962 USGS mapAvinger on the 1986 USGS map1962Avinger 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 Avinger.

Famous people

Famous people close to Avinger

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

See all →
F
Forest WhitakerAmerican actor · b. 1961
George ForemanAmerican professional boxer · b. 1949
Scott JoplinAmerican composer, musician, pianist (1867/68-1… · b. 1867
Bessie ColemanAmerican aviator · b. 1892
D
Don HenleyAmerican rock musician · b. 1947
Miranda LambertAmerican country singer · b. 1983
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Avinger’s post office has been open since 1877. Another post office, Hickory Hill, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hickory Hill
1848–1877
Avinger
1877–today
18401930today
1cemetery inside Avinger
Hickory Hill

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

Questions about Avinger’s history

What year was Avinger founded?

The Avinger post office opened in 1877, 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 (3), 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.