Founded in 1924 by George F. Willis, the City of Avondale Estates is the earliest known planned community in the southeast. Willis transformed the area known as Ingleside from a pastoral farmland to a lively village modeled after Stratford-upon-Avon. A team of civil engineers, landscape architects, and city planners helped Willis create a community of homes, shops, and recreational areas in a lush, green landscape with many small neighborhood parks.