Spotlight on :
Avis
THE AVIS WALL by Lou Bernard
If you ask about the history of Avis , people will tell you that it used to be named Oak Grove . This is a well-known fact about Avis , and in spite of it being very commonly repeated , you ’ ll find that it ’ s basically incorrect .
Oak Grove grew up around the railroad industry in the late 1800s , and was formalized with a post office in 1897 . The government assigned the post office the name “ Center Oak ” because an Oak Grove post office already existed , but the community was formally referred to as Oak Grove . Not long after , the Cochran Land Company of Williamsport laid out plots for another community , a separate one , just south of Oak Grove .
This community was to be called Avis , after Avis Cochran , the daughter of Henry Cochran , one of the owners of the company . With residents of both communities working for the railroad , Avis began to grow while Oak Grove basically didn ’ t . This led to some resentment between the two communities , which a 1939 newspaper article referred to as a “ bitter dispute .”
It got bad enough that the railroad company built a wall between the two communities , stretching all the way across town . The locals , already fed up with one another , were less than thrilled about having to walk all the way to the end of town to make their way around the wall just to get to work .
In early 1908 , a petition went around Avis to incorporate as a borough , and it was almost universally supported - out of the whole place , only two people refused to sign . Avis officially became a borough on May 8 , 1908 .
Meanwhile , Oak Grove stagnated . As Avis grew , it slowly took over the territory , making Oak Grove a part of the borough . Eventually , the wall came down and the two communities became one , with the name of Avis . So Avis wasn ’ t technically “ once called Oak Grove ” - they were two separate places , and the citizens of Oak Grove would not have been happy with anyone who said that .
- Lou Bernard is a local writer and can be reached at loulhpa @ gmail . com .
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