AVON-BY-THE-SEA — As Avon-By-The-Sea’s 125th birthday approaches this March, residents may view information and photos from the town’s first decade on display inside the post office on Main Street.
The display, crafted by the Avon-By-The-Sea Historical Society, features research on the borough’s history from its inception in March of 1900 to 1910, as well as a collection of photographs, archival newspaper articles, postcards and memorabilia.
Historical Society President Norah Magrini said, “Edward Bachelor, the founder (of Avon-By-The-Sea), the Taxpayers Association, the Avon Land Improvement Company petitioned the state legislature to secede from Neptune City and form its own borough. Then, they were granted that right on March 23, 1900.”
“Years before that, we came under the governance of Neptune City but the council met on this (Avon) side of the railroad tracks. The mayor (Alexander Mullen) was from Avon so he stayed with us, and some of the council…they had a new election, but that same man finished out his term until 1901,” said Magrini.
The bulletin board display includes one page per year on town activities and what the council worked toward accomplishing during that time.
“If you read it from beginning to end, you can see that nothing happened quickly. It took a long time for them to continue and finish the sewer that had already been started by Edward Bachelor, and then they established a fire department and how they were going to pay for that,” said
“They had to untangle a lot of the street light agreements they had when they were a part of Neptune City under their government because they had paid for that together, and then they had to undo it, so that took awhile. They had to separate the school district,” said Magrini, “So if you read it one at a time, you think, ‘Oh they did this,’ but it took until five years later for it to actually happen. They did not have an easy job.”
The display case holds old newspaper articles about the current events during those 10 years, as well as a collection of postcards featuring Avon landmarks such as hotels, the lake, Main Street, blueprint plans from the Shark River project, an original brick from the Avon Inn and a fire department helmet.
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