AVIS Andover Village Improvement Society

• Andover Village Improvement Society (AVIS) was founded in 1894 by a concerned group of citizens as part of a national movement to improve living conditions in an age of industrialization.

• One early project was to conserve a glacial deposit known as Indian Ridge.

• After World War II, from the mid 1950's through the 1960's and 1970's, there was concern that, with so much construction little or no open space would remain in Andover. Harold Rafton and others pursued the aquisition of properties through gift and purchase, vastly increasing AVIS acreage and the number of reservations.

• AVIS is run by a 15 member volunteer board. Many more wardens, committee members and scouts help to maintain and improve the reservations.

See

• AVIS website

• AVIS, a History in Conservation. by Juliet Haines Mofford, 1980.

• Indian Ridge Scrapbook: Clippings Relating to Indian Ridge, Mass.

compiled by Alice Buck.

• AVIS:Preserving Andover's Green Spaces by Al Retelle, Andover Historical Society.

• "AVIS Keeping Andover Green," Eagle Tribune, July 6, 2004, pages 9, 10.

• "AVIS Recognized for Preserving Town's Natural Resources," Andover Townsman, April 19, 2012, page S7.

• "Storms throughout history cause devastation of town trees," Andover Townsman, January 3, 2013, page 10.