The town of Avery was developed in 1906 with the construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway line along the St. Joe River. By 1910 the population had jumped to 250, then to its peak in 1917 of 1100 people. The 1910 forest fires diminished the logging opportunities in the St. Joe Valley. After the Depression logging again increased in the area. Potlatch Forests, Inc. established the log landing in Avery in 1944 to load logs onto rail cars. The line shut down in the mid-1980s and the railroad grade became part of the St. Joe River Road in 1991. The Depot remains evidence of the town’s booming railroad and logging days.