Avon - Washington Ghost Town

AVON

NAME: Avon
COUNTY: Skagit
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 6
CLIMATE: Cool winter and summer.
BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime.

COMMENTS: Semi-ghost.
REMAINS: Many original buildings.

In 1881 or 1882, a Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Skaling built a home, store, and wharf at the site called Avon. In 1884, Skaling hired a surveyor to plat a town and called it Avon after the river in England made famous by Shakespeare. A ten-room hotel and livery stable opened that same year. A boat building business followed. There was a general store, a blacksmith shop, a meat market, and a billiard hall for recreation. A sawmill opened employing fifty men. Boarding houses and rooming houses were built to serve to growing number of single men entering the area for logging and sawmilling. A handsome, two-story school building with a bell tower was built in 1892, to serve grades one through eight with eighty-seven students enrolled. The town continued to prosper. There was a curious occurrence in 1906. People were skating on the frozen Skagit River when the ice began to crack and roll in a wavelike motion. Later the skaters learned that the San Francisco earthquake had struck at that time of day. Avon had no railroad to sustain business and, as automobiles and highways took over transportation from riverboats, Avon's importance as a port disappeared and its businesses had to move to livelier commercial centers. A few early century homes are left, plus the remains of the school's gymnasium that once heard the shouts of 250 students. Submitted by Henry Chenowith.

In 1881 or 1882, a Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Skaling built a home, store, and wharf at the site called Avon. In 1884, Skaling hired a surveyor to plat a town and called it Avon after the river in England made famous by Shakespeare. A ten-room hotel and livery stable opened that same year. A boat building business followed. There was a general store, a blacksmith shop, a meat market, and a billiard hall for recreation. A sawmill opened employing fifty men. Boarding houses and rooming houses were built to serve to growing number of single men entering the area for logging and sawmilling. A handsome, two-story school building with a bell tower was built in 1892, to serve grades one through eight with eighty-seven students enrolled. The town continued to prosper. There was a curious occurrence in 1906. People were skating on the frozen Skagit River when the ice began to crack and roll in a wavelike motion. Later the skaters learned that the San Francisco earthquake had struck at that time of day. Avon had no railroad to sustain business and, as automobiles and highways took over transportation from riverboats, Avon's importance as a port disappeared and its businesses had to move to livelier commercial centers. A few early century homes are left, plus the remains of the school's gymnasium that once heard the shouts of 250 students. Submitted by Henry Chenowith.

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