BlockBefore

Avon, Minnesota

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Avon City. It lies in ZIP code area 56310. The Survey maps it on the Avon quadrangle. 1,618 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,132 feet above sea level.

Avon within Stearns County

On record in Avon

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Avon grew from 1,396 to 1,618 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
20101,396
20201,618+222 (+16%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 10 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.

In the county-history sources

848 words on this township

History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915 names this settlement in its chapter on Avon Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Avon is situated in the northeastern portion of the county, and is contained in township 125 north, range 30 west. It was originally covered with timber. It abounds in small lakes and marshes. The principal lakes are Pelican Lake, in the northwest portion of the town, and Spunk, Kepper, Anna, Lenman and Minnie lakes, in the vicinity of Avon village. The most beautiful of these is Spunk Lake. The area of the town is 23,040 acres. The St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba railroad, now a part of the Great Northern, passes through the southern portion of the town,

Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.

The village of Avon is situated on the beautiful Spunk Lakes in Sections 27 and 28 of township 125, range 30. It is an elegant place for summer resorts; having many lakes and excellent railroad facilities and not too far from the large cities of the state. It was incorporated in February, 1900.

Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.

The Great Northern Railway, then known as the St. Paul, Minneapolis Railway Company, was graded through here in 1872, but was not completed until 1873. Up to that time the mail was brought here by stage and the postoffice was then known as Spunk Lake. As soon as the railroad was completed mail came by rail and the postoffice was changed to Avon, its present name. The first postmaster for Spunk Lake was N. S. Keppers. The first postmaster for Avon was Wm. Murphy. The first depot agent was J. Holmes; Herdernt Simpson is the present.

Passage source: History of Stearns County, Minnesota, published 1915.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Avon Township - it names this place 3 more 3 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Avon in 2017, burning under an acre 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 burning1

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
20 March 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreMinnesota Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stearns County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Avon: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Avon Readymix Pit and MillSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Stearns County

Storms near this place

24 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Avon in 24 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 16 hail, 7 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
August 2021Thunderstorm WindAvon-There were large trees blown down in Avon.
May 2018HailAvon-A swath of large hail was observed from southwest, to northwest of Avon, Minnesota. The largest hail stone was hen size. There was also a video of wind damage on Middle Swan Lake, which is west of Avon.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindAvon-A large tree was blown down near Avon.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindAvon-A few large trees were blown down in Avon.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindAvon-A few large trees were blown down, near Avon.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindAvon-A trained spotter measured a peak wind gust, along with several large trees blown down.
September 2007Thunderstorm WindAvon-Two large branches toppled onto vehicles. Three power poles snapped. A TV antenna blown over.
July 2000Thunderstorm WindAvon-Fifteen foot pine tree toppled.
July 2023HailAvon-no account filed
May 2022HailAvon-no account filed
May 2022HailAvon-no account filed
September 2017HailAvon-no account filed
June 2012HailAvon-no account filed
July 2010HailAvon-no account filed
August 2006HailAvon-no account filed
July 2003HailAvon-no account filed
July 2003HailAvon-no account filed
June 2002HailAvon-no account filed
August 2002HailAvon-no account filed
June 1999Tornado (F0)Avon-no account filed
July 1999HailAvon-no account filed
May 1998HailAvon-no account filed
May 1998HailAvon-no account filed
July 1994HailAvon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Stearns 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
Saint Anna3.8 miles8
Collegeville4.8 miles12
Saint Wendel5.5 miles8
Albany6.4 miles9
Saint Joseph7.7 miles12
Holdingford8.5 miles8
Jacobs Prairie9.0 miles9
Saint Anthony10.1 miles9

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 AvonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2139303The 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 639541. 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.