Avinger moved one mile toward the railroad

Before Avinger, there was Hickory Hill about a mile to the south. The settlement began in the early 1840s and had a post office by 1848. It also had a tannery, store, schoolhouse, churches, a graveyard, and several homes.

On December 5, 1876, the East Line and Red River Railroad opened a 20-mile segment to Hickory Hill. The narrow-gauge line placed a station at the site of present-day Avinger. Merchants began shifting their businesses toward the tracks.

The post office moved in 1877 and took the name Avinger for Dr. H. J. Avinger, who ran an early store at the station. The new center became a shipping point for lumber and farm products. The rail stop gave farmers and lumber crews a route beyond Cass County. By 1884 it had saw and grist mills and a cotton gin.

The old settlement did not vanish at once. Homes and the graveyard did not all move north; the business center did. Avinger was Hickory Hill's commerce and mail moving a mile toward the train.