Avoca ( ) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Jones County, Texas Jones County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 19,663. Its county seat is Anson, Texas, Anson. The county was created in 1858 and organiz ...

, United States. It is on State Highway 6 at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 600 and Farm to Market Road 1636, 8 mi southeast of Stamford. Avoca is part of the

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor County, Texas, Taylor and Jones County, Texas, Jones counties, Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan ar ...

, metropolitan statistical area.

History

Avoca was laid out at its current location in 1900, when the railroad was extended to that point; the town site had formerly been located a few miles away. The name is derived from the post office at the former site called Avo, before then the small town was called Spring Creek. As of 2022, Avoca had two churches: Avoca Baptist Church Pastor Mims and Avoca United Methodist Church, of which the pastor was Dennis Huffaker, and the Lueders Avoca High School. The area has no post office, nor any businesses.

Education

The Lueders-Avoca Independent School District serves the area's high school students in grades 9-12.

Pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

through eighth grade attend the Lueders Campus.

Notable person

Charles Stenholm Charles Walter Stenholm (October 26, 1938 – May 17, 2023) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician from a rural district of the state of Texas. After establishing himself as owner-operator of a large cotton farm, he entere ...

lived in Avoca while a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. Barone, Michael; and Ujifusa, Grant. ''

The Almanac of American Politics ''The Almanac of American Politics'' is a reference work published biennially by Columbia Books & Information Services. It aims to provide a detailed look at the politics of the United States through an approach of profiling individual leaders a ...

1988', p. 1174. ''

National Journal ''National Journal'' is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes ...

'', 1987. * Max Williams (February 28, 1938 - January 27,2025) lived in Avoca through his high school years, graduating from Avoca High School in 1956, and helped form the Dallas Chaparrals as part of the American Basketball Association and became the general manager from 1967-71 and was their head coach in 1970-1971. Before he joined the ABA, Williams accumulated 3,360 career points as a high school basketball player during the 1950s in Avoca. With the SMU Mustangs men's basketball team, Williams held the free throw percentage season record for the university in 1958 and 1960. He had 940 career points with SMU after his final season in 1960. Williams was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013. He was also selected as one of the best 100 boys basketball players in Texas by the UIL upon the organization's 100th anniversary.

References

External links

Avoca, Texas
– Texas Escapes Online Magazine Unincorporated communities in Jones County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Abilene metropolitan area 1900 establishments in Texas {{JonesCountyTX-geo-stub