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Avery
Main Street
Old photo courtesy Jesse Suttles |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The town had originally
been named Douglass, Texas by officials of the Texas and Pacific
Railroad in the 1870s. The T & P was crossing Red
River County and there were so few people in the area that nobody
objected to the decision. A newspaperman from Clarksville
visited the site in 1881 and reported that residents were living in
a tent village. Things were about to change. Isaac Bradford opened
a store there the following year and in the custom of the day, the
store housed the post office. With postal service established, Douglass,
Texas became Isaca, Texas. The population, however, was less
than 50 residents.
The name only lasted until 1902 when it was changed to honor Ed
Avery, the T & P station agent. Avery had a population of 176
by 1900 and cotton was the town's
lifeblood. Gins opened and by 1914, Avery had two banks, a weekly
paper and a population of 500. At its peak (in the late 1920s) Avery
had nearly 800 citizens which declined to a mere 300 during the onset
of the Great Depression. In 1940 it had a population of just under
500, and it has remained between 430 and 500 ever since. |
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Avery
First United Methodist Church
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey, 2010 |
Avery
Farmers' Market
Photo courtesy Jesse Suttles |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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