Henry D. Alvord, founder of the village of Alvordton and its first postmaster, was born. Henry D. Alvord was born in Allegany County, N.Y. on July 31, 1838. The Alvord family settled for a short time in Fulton County before locating in Section 20 of Millcreek Township in 1842. The 1882 Goodspeed history of Williams County states that Alvord “worked on the home farm till 19 years old, went to Bureau County, Ill., for a year, returned and passed the next four years in attending school and again assisting on the farm. In 1864, he began business at Primrose, carrying on a dry goods store, an ashery, and filling the position of postmaster. He served as justice of the peace from 1873 to 1879, was appointed notary public in 1879, and in 1881 was appointed postmaster at Alvordton. In the spring of 1881, with the advent of the railroad, he purchased an additional farm and laid out the town of Alvordton and procured the location of the station at the place, which is now growing rapidly.” In 1882 Alvord completed an $8,000 brick hotel on the south side of Alvordton’s Main Street, west of Michigan Avenue. The building still stands, but the brick exterior is now covered with siding. Henry Alvord died January 21, 1917, and was buried in Bryan’s Fountain Grove Cemetery. Henry Alvord is shown on the right in the middle row of this vintage image of early Alvordton businessmen from the Kevin Maynard collection.
