#evinston

by Joanna Grey Talbot

Located on the border of Alachua County and Marion County is another sleepy town with a vibrant history. 

The area was a part of the Arredondo Grant of 1817 and many of the early settler families went by the names of Reeves, Wolfendon, and Evins. The Evins family had moved from South Carolina (just like the Mathesons and Hailes) and eventually owned large land holdings west of Orange Lake.

In 1882 Captain William Drayton Evins gave land for the right-of-way for the Florida Southern Railroad. That same year he built his house, which still stands today and is owned by Ashley Wood, long-time Alachua County Historical Commission member.

Evins-Wood House, courtesy of Alison Eckerle - WUFT News

The post office was established on February 28, 1882. The depot wasn’t built until 1884 but it was named Evinston in honor of the Evins family.

Evinston was a thriving town with a variety of stores, schoolhouse (it consolidated with the Micanopy school in the 1920s), three churches, a blacksmith, two packing houses, and a grist mill.

A short article in the Gainesville Daily Sun on September 6, 1905, tells of the opening of the school year.

“The Evinston School, under the direction of Miss Vallie Grace, opened Monday under most favorable conditions, a good enrollment having been recorded the first day. Miss Grace is one of the most popular and efficient teachers in the county, and will no doubt make a fine success of the Evinston School.”

As most of Alachua County had been, Evinston had a number of citrus groves that were destroyed during the freezes of the 1890s. The local economy instead focused more on vegetables, melons, and cattle.

On February 8, 1907 the Gainesville Daily Sun reports that “the truckers [are] shipping a large quantity of lettuce from that section, which is as fine as was ever grown in Florida. The lettuce industry at Evinston is one of the most important in the section.”

Lettuce Farm in Florida, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

The melon industry was also booming at the time. In 1909 the Gainesville Sun reported:

“The melon and cantaloupe movement from this part of Florida is now at its highest, for nearly all sections are shipping this fruit with fine results being obtained. It has long since passed simple carloads, and from three to five extra melon trains are run over the A.C.L. from Ocala to this city, while it is about the same ratio over the Seaboard, the greater part of this fruit coming from the Evinston and McIntosh sections.”

In 1905 the Gainesville Sun reported that F. W. Barron from Evinston had sent them a 96 pound melon! He was a postmaster, merchant, and farmer. The paper thanked him for “both the melon and his thoughtfulness.”

Florida cantaloupes, courtesy of the Matheson History Museum collection

For a time Evinston also had a local baseball team. In 1906 the Gainesville Sun reported about a game between Evinston and Oak Hall. It was not the most exciting of games.

“Those who attended baseball at the park Thursday afternoon between the Oak Hall and Evinston teams expected to witness something exciting, but the contest was so one-sided that before the game was half over all interest was lost, and the spectators began munching peanuts, drinking lemonade and talking over the current events of the day, some even taking out their papers and glancing over the news. The Oak Halls found an easy thing, but the visitors did the best they could under the circumstances. The score was 11 to 3 in favor of Gainesville.” 

In 1886 the Mt. Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church was established. The church held camp meetings for 2 weeks each year. They were so popular that the railroad would run excursions out to Evinston. The old wooden church was replaced by the current sanctuary in 1973.

The congregation of Evinston United Methodist Church began meeting in the 1890s in members’ homes and the one-room schoolhouse. Members would also somtimes go to a service in McIntosh and then back to Evinston for Sunday School class. The church builidng was constructed in 1909 and the laying of the cornerstone was covered by the Gainesville Daily Sun. It was a circuit church with Micanopy, McIntosh, and Shiloh. The Evinston church met on the third Sunday of each month. It wasn’t until the 1990s that they hired their first full-time pastor, Reverend Don Legler.

Evinston United Methodist Church, courtesy of the Evinston UMC

The railroad service to Evinston was discontinued in 1956 and the tracks were pulled up in the 1980s. Today Evinston is still a beautiful, small town and is home to the famous Wood & Swink Store. It was constructed in 1882 and became a general store around 1900. The store and post office changes owners multiple times until the Wood family bought it in 1906. It became the Wood & Swink in 1933 when Frederick Wood and his brother-in-law, Paul Swink, became co-owners. The Wood family continue to operate it and in 1989 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can still visit it today!

Rusty and crusty in Evinston, FLA

Evins-Wood House, 1886

Evinston, Alachua County, FL