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Avoca, Indiana

22 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1935 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Marshall Township. It lies in ZIP code area 47420. It lies near Diehl Hollow. The Survey maps it on the Oolitic quadrangle. 545 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 623 feet above sea level.

Avoca within Lawrence County

Population over time

2 figures

Avoca fell from 583 to 545 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010583
2020545-38 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 22 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

5 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 5 fires within 5 miles of Avoca between 2002 and 2018, burning about 18 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning4
Other causes1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
21 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreHoosier National ForestTHE WOODS
31 March 2014Other causes3.5 acresHoosier National ForestKENTUCKY HOLLOW
17 March 2005Debris and open burning8.0 acresHoosier National ForestMAPLE RIDGE FIRE
18 February 2002Debris and open burningunder an acreHoosier National ForestBRIARWOOD
2 December 2002Debris and open burning5.0 acresHoosier National ForestRACKOVICH FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lawrence County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Avoca: 10 producers, 9 past producers, 1 occurrence, 1 prospect. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Limestone, General, Fluorine-Fluorite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Lawrence Co. Hwy. Dept.Sand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Unnamed Fluorite OccurrenceFluorine-FluoriteOccurrenceFluorite
Baalbeck QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Number 3 Needmore QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Bedford Ground Limestone PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Bedford Quarry and MillStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Sieboldt QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Dark Hollow QuarryLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Dickenson PlantLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Diehl Hollow QuarryLimestone, DimensionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Lawrence County

Storms near this place

5 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avoca in 5 storm reports between 2009 and 2025: 2 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2025Tornado (EF0)Avoca$70,000A short lived tornado began in a ravine about 0.4 of a mile east-northeast of the intersection of Indiana Routes 37 and 54. Tracking to the north-northeast, the majority of the damage was to the west of the southwest corner of Kentucky Hollow Road where a shed was completely destroyed along with significant damage to the residence's porch. The house saw some shingle damage with insulation blown on all 4 sides of the structure, while tornadic winds blew in the garage and partially blew out the cinder block foundation. The track ended on the west side of the Needmore community. Maximum winds estimated at 85 mph.
August 2025Flash FloodAvoca$10,000Indiana Route 54 was flooded by heavy rain. There were no nearby rainfall reports, but radar estimates of 2.5-4.0 inches fell in the area.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindAvoca$10,000Dry outflow from a thunderstorm blew off a screen door and blew down a couple of utility poles.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindAvoca$1,000Several trees damaged due to thunderstorm wind gusts at this location.
May 2009Flash FloodAvoca-Highway 54 was flooded by heavy rain at Avoca, Indiana. Additional flooding was observed along Highway 158.

Every storm recorded in Lawrence County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Patton Hill0.9 miles22
Needmore1.4 miles22
Oolitic1.4 miles22
Dark Hollow1.7 miles22
Murdock2.1 miles22
East Oolitic2.1 miles22
Thornton2.5 miles22
Peerless2.5 miles22

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on AvocaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4829096The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 450637. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.