Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Avinger, TX

Avinger is a town in southwestern Cass County, Texas, at the junction of State Highways 49 and 155, about eight miles southeast of Hughes Springs.

Avinger grew out of the nearby settlement of Hickory Hill, which began in the early 1840s about a mile south of the present town and had a post office from 1848, along with a schoolhouse, churches, a store, and a tannery.

The town itself was established in 1876, when the East Line and Red River Railroad was built through the area and a station was placed at the current site of Avinger.

When the post office was moved to the new station in 1877, it was renamed Avinger in honor of Dr. H. J. Avinger, who operated the first store at the new location.

Avinger became a shipping point for lumbermen and area farmers, growing from a population of fifty in 1884 — with two churches, a school, saw and grist mills, and a gin — to about 500 by 1914, when it supported a small bank.

The town was incorporated in the 1930s, in the depths of the Great Depression.

Avinger's population peaked at 730 in the 1960 census and has declined since.

The 2020 census counted 371 people in Avinger, living in 123 households.

David Simpson, later a Republican state representative from Longview, served as mayor of Avinger from 1993 to 1998.