How Angola, NY Got Its Name – Dale’s Daily Data

Ever since I was a kid – Angola meant going to the beach.  My relatives lived along the beach near Evans Town Park and several times a summer we’d visit and it meant spending part of the day on the beach.  But Angola is actually a small village within the Town of Evans – only about one square mile in size and it was the railroad, not the beach that led to its growth.

Originally it was called Evans Station when two railroads built train tracks thru the area in 1852.  Saw mills and grist mills sprung up bringing jobs.  People started to move in.  Those people needed services so stores, businesses and churches opened.

One thing Evans Station didn’t have was a post office.  According to Deputy mayor William Houston – here’s what happened.  There was a post office in Taylor Hollow in Collins that was operated by the Quakers. The Quakers were known to come to the aid of people around the world including those in Angola, Africa.  In honor of their work in Africa, the Quakers named the post office they operated in Taylor Hollow – Angola.  When that post office was closed in 1855 it was ordered transferred to Evans Station and the name Angola went with it.

SOURCE: villageofangola.org