Avon

By: Nora O. Howard

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Synopsis: Avon, located beside the Farmington River in the fertile Connecticut River Valley, was incorporated in 1830. The proud new town had 1,200 residents, two Congregational meetinghouses, the Farmington Canal, taverns, and a hotel. The busy Talcott Mountain Turnpike connected Avon with Hartford and Albany, New York. Avon shows the town's dynamic changes from 1830 to 1950, including dairy and tobacco farming, the town center, the railroad, the fuse factory, immigration, and Avon Old Farms School. The outstanding photographs in Avon, most published here for the first time, are from the collections of the Avon Historical Society, the Avon Free Public Library, the Avon Congregational Church, the West Avon Congregational Church, Avon Old Farms School, Heublein Tower, the Avon Police Department, and individuals. Of note are remarkable glass plate negatives by Clinton and Frank Hadsell. Featured are collections of lifelong residents John Anthony O'Neill and Carl Candels. The meticulously researched text of Avon fully explains each photograph. There are views of families, farms, and fires, Main Street, Secret Lake, St. Ann's Church, and an 1835 Avon map from the Connecticut Historical Society.