Avon Village

Livingston County, New York

Avon Village Hall is located at 74 Genesee Street, Avon NY 14414.
Phone: 585‑226‑8118.

Neighborhoods

Beginnings [1]

The settlement that became the Village of Avon was established in the 1790s on the Genesee River flats opposite a mineral springs, which was first discovered by Seneca Indians in the 18th century. During the early to mid 19th century, taverns and hotels sprang up in the village and at the mineral springs, attracting visitors that arrived first by stage coach, later via the Genesee Valley Canal, which opened in 1840 from Rochester to Mount Morris, and by the 1850s, the railroad. In 1853 the village of Avon was incorporated. During the years before the Civil War, Avon was at its height of prosperity as one of the State's most popular tourist destinations, along with Saratoga Springs, Sharon Springs, and other resort villages. Following the Civil War, Avon became more of a health resort, and several hotels that had not succumbed to fires were turned into sanitariums. By the 1880s, the popularity of the springs was on the decline as a fashionable place to visit. Today, only a few buildings in the village serve as reminders of its former years as a flourishing resort and spa.

1. Nomination document, 2002, prepared by Robert T. Englert, N.Y. State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, Kellog, J. Francis House, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

Nearby Towns: Avon Town • Wheatland Town •