The name Avondale was suggested[citation needed] by the parish priest Rev John Roe because of the resemblance to his native area in Ireland, taking the name from Thomas Moore's poem, "The Meeting of the Waters".

Settlers to the area were primarily Irish Roman Catholic with a smaller number of Jersey French and English.

The population dwindled in the early 1900s as men began migrating to the eastern US (Boston and New York) to find work.

[9] The last train to run in Newfoundland was on September 20, 1988 and less than a month later CN started tearing up the tracks, finishing in 1990 (see: Terra Transport).

[11] The people of the community decided they would protest the removal of the tracks, by sitting on them as trucks and bulldozers moved around them.

[11] Determination won in the end and the Avondale Railway Station came to an agreement to officially keep a small part of the tracks.