Brief History of Evadale Texas

Evadale is at the junction of U.S. Highway 96 and Farm roads 105, 1131, and 2246, twenty-five miles northeast of Beaumont in southwestern Jasper County. During the 1830s and 1840s the site was called Richardson (Richardson's) Bluff, for early settler Benjamin Richardson, who operated a ferry on the Neches River and who also served as postmaster in 1839. Town lots for the area were listed in county tax rolls as early as 1859. After Richardson's death in 1849, the land was sold to John A., Philip U., and Charles T. Ford. At this time the site was often referred to as Ford's Bluff. Hoping to establish a sawmill, Philip Ford went to New Orleans to buy machinery but contracted yellow fever there and died shortly after returning to Jasper County. Nonetheless, Ford's Bluff became an important collection point for logs, which were floated down the river to Beaumont mills. In 1893 John Henry Kirby chartered the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City Railway and rebuilt a tram line that already ran from Ford's Bluff to Buna as part of his larger common carrier project. Kirby renamed the site for Miss Eva Dale, a teacher at Jasper's Southeast Texas Male and Female College, and constructed a mill there by 1904, when the post office was established. By 1914 the Evadale plant, known as Mill U, included kilns, a circular sawmill, and a planing mill with a daily capacity of up to 70,000 board feet. Evadale had a population of 300 by 1920. The Kirby mill closed during the Great Depression, and by the late 1940s the town's population had fallen to 100. Economic revitalization began in 1948, when the Champion Paper and Fiber Company acquired riverfront acreage for a pulp mill. By the 1970s the giant Temple-Eastex pulpwood and paper mill dominated the local economy. With the new activity, the population in Evadale reached 700 by the early 1960s. In 1984 the town had twenty-two businesses and an estimated 715 residents. In 1990 its population was 1,422 and in 2000 it was 1,430

Evadale ISD

Evadale Independent School District is a school district, located in a rural logging community about 25 miles north of Beaumont. The district has two campuses: Evadale Elementary/Jr. High, PK-8, and Evadale High School 9-12.

The district serves approximately 468 students in grades PK-12. Their needs will be dictated by an ever changing society. Decisions made today will affect the quality of education they receive tomorrow.

Evadale Independent School District board of trustees, administrators, teachers, and staff are committed to meeting the needs of all students so they may be better prepared for the future and the world of work.

The staff, parents and community of the Evadale Independent School District believe that students must have equal opportunity to benefit from an instructional program of quality. Students will have a well balanced, assessed curriculum with goals and objectives clearly stated and effectively taught. The instructional program will be meaningfully organized and monitored. Students will be provided with a physically and emotionally safe place to learn. The school will be clean, pleasant and orderly. Mutual respect will exist between staff members, students and parents.

The staff members, students and parents share the responsibility for success in school. Students, with parental help, will be expected to exhibit a positive attitude toward learning, in relation to attendance, behavior, preparation and performance. Students will be expected to learn the essential elements, basic academic and social skills taught in the classroom, and to demonstrate mastery on the state basic skills test. Higher levels of academic achievement will be anticipated as students develop independent learning skills and accept greater educational challenges.

The staff members of Evadale Independent School District are committed to the teaching/learning of all students. Because teachers have a responsibility for promoting student achievement they will employ effective classroom management and instructional strategies. Teachers will be good role models and will motivate and challenge students to do their best. Progress of students will be reported accurately, tactfully and in a timely manner.