Dr. Avinger is shown above, standing by the platform of Avinger’s first depot.
The Old Avinger Homestead of Dr. H.J.Avinger in 1860, later remodeled, is shown above. In the picture, taken in 1913, are left to right, Elise, John and Joe Dan Avinger.
The home of Dr. M.K. Sturdivant is shown above.
The entire student body of the Avinger School in 1913 is pictured above, at the end of the first year’s occupancy of the new building.
Cass County
Located in the southwestern corner of Cass County, at the intersection of State Highways 49 and 155, the town of Avinger was established in 1876. Hickory Hill, a settlement that began in the early 1840s, was located a mile south of the site of Avinger.
A post office was established there in 1848 with Thomas M. Kimbell as postmaster, and at its height it had a schoolhouse, two or three churches, a store, a gravel yard, a tannery, and several residences. In 1876 the East Line and Red River Railroad was built through the area, and a station was located at the current site of Avinger.
Gradually the businesses began to relocate, and when the post office was moved in 1877 it was renamed Avinger in honor of Dr. H. J. Avinger, who operated the first store at the new location. The town became a shipping point for lumbermen and area farmers and by 1884 had two churches, a school, saw and grist mills, a gin, and a population of fifty. By 1892 the population had increased to 100, and by 1914 the town supported numerous businesses including a small bank and had an estimated population of 500.
The population of the town remained stable until the late 1920s; it rose from an estimated 505 in 1925 to an estimated 700 in 1929. By 1931, in the trough of the Great Depression, the population had dropped to an estimated 450. During World War II the United States Defense Corporation built the Lone Star Steel Plant a few miles west of Avinger.
In 1949 the town began extensive renovations, in the hopes that the large nearby industry would encourage growth. Bonds were voted that built a new high school, water system, and sewer system. The town’s antiquated crank telephone system was replaced by a dial system, and many of streets were paved. The population reached its height of 750 in 1960.
From the 50th anniversary edition (1929) of the Citizens Journal: The Avinger of today is a thriving, progressive business place with live merchants, carrying complete stocks of all kinds of merchandise to supply the needs of the surrounding trade territory.
The following are the firms: E. C. Henderson & Co., doing a general furnishing business and cotton buyer; City Café; Connor Hardware Co., hardware and furniture; J.R. McCain, general merchandise, groceries; Simpson Drug Co., prescription druggist, carrying a complete line of drugs and kindred lines; A.M. Rhyne & Co, general store, furnishings, ginners and cotton buyers; CB. Templeton Drug Co, prescription druggist, new store, fresh drugs, druggist sundries, etc.; Gulf Refining Co; McNeil Garage, repairing, etc.; Humble Filling Station; McNeil Gin Co; ginners; Alsup, blacksmith; Haynes, blacksmith; Hotel Johnson; R.H. Pool Lumber Co; sawmill; Telephone Exchange; First State Bank, capital $15,000. Surplus $15,000; Avinger Light and Power Co, owned and operated by Rhyne Simpson, operating the following: light plant, ice factory, water works, Chevrolet agency, garage, wholesale and retail gas and oil.
There are several inland sawmills nearby that load and ship out of Avinger. The pole and rock shipping has been a good business, several hundred cares of each being shipped annually.
Some fine farming country surrounds this place and general farming, and stock raising is engaged in by the good farmers of that section of Cass County.