page_title: Avoca, Pennsylvania
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Avoca, Pennsylvania / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Aftermath of Mud River Disaster, October 1888
context_page_description: Avoca is a borough within the Greater Pittston area of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located 7.5 miles northeast of Wilkes Barre and 3.4 miles southwest of Scranton. The population was 2,661 at the 2010 census. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is located near Avoca.
context_section_description: The community was incorporated as a borough in 1871. Its original name was “Pleasant Valley.” However, in 1887, it changed its name to “Avoca,” because the name "Pleasant Valley" was already used elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was named after Avoca, County Wicklow, in Ireland. The following year, on October 10, 1888, the borough suffered a major tragedy when dozens of its own residents were killed in a train wreck known as the Mud Run Disaster. It occurred at 8:02 p.m., when two trains collided in Kidder Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania. A majority of the 64 killed were from Avoca. The other casualties were from Scranton, Moosic and other neighboring communities.
  From 1945 to 1947, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport was constructed in and around Avoca. A small portion of the airport was built in Avoca, while most of it was constructed in the neighboring Pittston Township. Coal mining was the chief industry in the borough for many decades. However, after the 1959 Knox Mine Disaster, the mining industry in the region collapsed.
caption: Dozens of Avoca residents were killed in the Mud Run Disaster.
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