Avondale's founding father, William "Billy" G. Moore, arrived in Arizona in the late 1860s, settling near the Agua Fria (Spanish for "cold water") River around 1880. Legend has it that Moore was a member of the Quantrill gang of Civil War guerrillas led by Willard Clarke Quantrill. Moore, the gang's blacksmith, was banished by the governor of Missouri to the Arizona Territory in 1867 (he was later pardoned). He first took up residence near Kingman, before becoming the first settler to put roots into the desert land by the Agua Fria River.
Billy Moore called his settlement "Coldwater, Arizona" - apparently both for the river and for the water that flowed from a local spring. He served a brief stint as Justice of the Peace for the Agua Fria area. He bought land, established a stage stop on the Butterfield Stage Run, erected a saloon and a general store, and was even Postmaster of Coldwater from 1901 till 1905.
In the early 1900s, the Coldwater post office moved to a site near the nearby Avondale Ranch. By then, Billy Moore had lost his position as Postmaster, reportedly because he violated postal regulations, which prohibited the dispensing of alcohol from the same building that houses a post office.
The post office soon became known as Avondale, and the name Coldwater was discontinued.
In December 1946 the City of Avondale was incorporated. Each year, Avondale and its neighboring communities celebrate the area's colorful past with a parade down Western Avenue, a fun-filled carnival, burro races, a golf tournament and much more.
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