A Village Built Along the Road
The Village of Avon is the historic heart of Avon, Indiana—a place where the town’s earliest roads, homes, businesses, churches, and schools still help tell the story of the community. Today, it is easy to think of Avon as a growing suburban town centered along U.S. 36, Avon Avenue, Dan Jones Road, and a network of newer neighborhoods. But the older village core, particularly around Main Street, Genesee Street, Park Place, Prospect Street, and nearby side streets, reflects a much earlier Avon.
Before paved roads, shopping centers, and modern subdivisions, this part of Washington Township was a farming crossroads. Early settlers traveled rough paths connecting the area with Indianapolis, Danville, Plainfield, and the National Road. The National Road, built through the region in the 1830s, encouraged settlement and trade. According to local histories, nearly every farmhouse along important routes could serve as a place for travelers to rest when muddy roads made wagon travel slow and difficult.
How Avon Got Its Name
Avon was not always called Avon. The community went through several names as residents established post offices and businesses.
- In 1833, Washington Township’s first post office was established as Hampton.
- In 1852, a short-lived post office was known as White Lick.
- In the 1860s, local storekeeper John Smoot helped petition for another post office.
- The federal government assigned the name Smootsdell because Smoot’s name appeared at the head of the petition.
- A surveyor later wrote “New Philadelphia” on a stake, giving the community another temporary name.
- When the railroad arrived, a stake marked “Avon” was placed near the station. Residents favored the name, and it eventually became permanent.
The story has the charm of a frontier community making its identity as it grew. Avon’s final name was not chosen through a grand civic ceremony. Instead, it emerged from post offices, local personalities, and transportation improvements—small decisions that gradually shaped the name recognized today.
John Smoot and the First Store
The early village began to take a more recognizable form around commerce. In 1858, John Smoot built a small, one-room store after leasing land near the property of J.H. Ross. Local history describes the store as the first in the community and the beginning of the town of Avon.
Even the store’s location reflected the spirited nature of the young settlement. Political differences between Smoot and Ross led Smoot to move his business across the road. Later, in 1862, Smoot moved the store again, this time about a mile west. The building was transported on log sleds during winter, and the “town” moved with it. By 1867, Smoot’s store and the post office helped establish the commercial center that would become the Village of Avon.
That tradition of small businesses remains part of Avon’s identity. Even as the town has grown, residents continue to value locally owned shops, restaurants, service businesses, and gathering places.
Railroads, Interurban Lines, and Growth
Transportation played a central role in the village’s development. After the Civil War, the Big Four Railroad came through the area, and the location of the depot became a matter of intense local competition. East-side and west-side residents worked to influence where trains would stop, recognizing that a depot could bring customers, freight, mail, and new business.
The railroad helped connect Avon to larger markets, while the interurban brought another wave of activity. On September 1, 1906, the Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern traction line opened through Avon. Cars ran approximately every hour from early morning until midnight, making it easier for residents to travel to nearby communities and for visitors to reach Avon. The line operated until about 1930.
A historic railroad depot once stood along West Main Street. The Avon Historic Resources Survey identifies a depot dating to approximately 1879 at 100 W. Main Street, a reminder of the era when rail travel shaped the village’s economy and daily routines.
Historic Streets and Buildings
A walk through the Village of Avon reveals a collection of homes and buildings representing more than a century of architectural change. Main Street is especially important because it combines early residences, commercial buildings, former hotels, and civic structures.
The Avon Inn at 55 E. Main Street began as a private home dating to about 1840 before becoming a hotel. Nearby buildings reflect the village’s gradual transition from a rural crossroads to a busier commercial center. Along West Main Street, the survey notes historic storefronts, homes with double-deck porches, Italianate details, Eastlake ornament, and other features associated with nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Indiana architecture.
Other streets add to the neighborhood’s character:
- Genesee Street contains historic houses representing several generations of residential construction.
- Park Place surrounds an early village park and includes a soldiers’ memorial dating to 1877.
- Prospect Street is home to the St. Agnes Catholic Church complex, including a Greek Revival rectory, Gothic Revival church, school buildings, and convent.
- Oak Street, Clinton Street, Temple Street, and Wadsworth Avenue preserve the compact setbacks and walkable pattern of the older village.
Together, these streets show how Avon developed incrementally rather than all at once. A grand nineteenth-century home may stand near a modest early twentieth-century house, reflecting changes in wealth, transportation, family life, and local industry.
Schools, Churches, and Community Life
Education and faith communities helped anchor village life. In the nineteenth century, Washington Township included numerous small schools, including an Avon school near what is now associated with the town center. Avon offered a three-year high school course before a consolidated school was built in 1917. Enrollment remained modest for decades, then expanded rapidly after the mid-twentieth century as the community grew.
Churches also served as important social centers. Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, and other congregations provided places for worship, music, holiday programs, clubs, and community gatherings. In a small town, a church basement or schoolhouse could be as important for social life as any public hall.
Today, institutions such as the Avon-Washington Township Public Library and the Avon Community School Corporation continue that tradition of bringing residents together. Their work connects modern Avon with the older village belief that education, participation, and neighborly involvement are essential to community life.
From Rural Crossroads to Growing Suburb
For much of the twentieth century, Avon remained closely tied to agriculture. Farms, nurseries, mills, blacksmith shops, tile factories, and small stores supported local families. After World War II, improved roads and the expanding Indianapolis metropolitan area began to change the community. U.S. 36 became an increasingly important route, and farmland gradually gave way to homes, schools, businesses, and public facilities.
The town incorporated in 1995, marking a new phase of organized municipal growth. Since then, Avon has expanded dramatically while continuing to recognize its older village center as an important part of its identity.
Modern parks and trails provide new ways to experience the community. Town-managed recreational spaces include Town Hall Park, Gable Park, Winton Meadows Park, WWII Memorial Park, and other open areas. Avon now oversees more than 100 acres of parkland and open space, offering residents a contemporary counterpart to the historic streets and village gathering places.
Preserving the Spirit of Avon
The Shoppes of Olde Avon Village add another layer to Avon’s heritage. Developed as a sanctuary for historic structures, the village includes relocated and repurposed buildings, including the approximately 1850 Alten House, now associated with the Tree House Gallery and Tea Room. The project reflects a community desire to preserve the look, materials, and feeling of earlier Avon even as the surrounding town changes.
What makes the Village of Avon special is not simply the age of its buildings. It is the continuity of everyday life. The same general crossroads that once welcomed farmers, railroad passengers, shopkeepers, and schoolchildren now welcomes families, cyclists, shoppers, and neighbors. Along Main Street and the surrounding historic streets, Avon’s past remains visible—not frozen in time, but woven into the living community that continues to grow around it.