Avalon

Avalon is an agricultural community located at State Highway 34 and Farm Road 55 about fourteen miles southeast of Waxahachie in southern Ellis County. Settlers began to arrive in the area along Chambers Creek in the 1860s. These pioneers included the John, Taylor, Loyd, Martin, Davis, and Youngblood families among others. William John reportedly named the settlement Avalon. In 1879 the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church (later known as the Avalon Missionary Baptist Church) was organized. A post office opened on August 3, 1881, with Patrick Alderman serving as postmaster. The Texas State Gazetteer in 1884 reported Avalon as a recently settled town with two steam cotton gins and gristmills, three churches, and a school. The community also included two physicians, two carpenters, a druggist, and general stores. By 1890 Avalon had a population of 100. This increased to 226 in 1900, and the school and churches remained the centers of social activity. The post office discontinued on January 2, 1907, however, and mail was routed to nearby Italy.

Businesses in Avalon during the early part of the twentieth century included the Avalon Warehouse Company, Avalon Gin Company, and Avalon Road Works. A post office was reestablished on January 16, 1937, and by 1940 Avalon had a population of 300. That number shrank to 150 during the next two decades. By 1970 population numbers had stabilized at 130. The Avalon Missionary Baptist Church received a Texas Historical Marker in 1988. In 2000 the town's population remained at 130. Avalon included the school, the Baptist Church, a grocery store and service station, a gin, a water department building, and a volunteer fire department.