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EVADALE, TEXAS
Jasper County, East
Texas
30°21'13"N 94°3'55"W (30.353492, -94.065332)
Hwy 96 and FMs 105, 1131, and 2246
Near Hardin County
line
9 Miles SW of Buna
6 Miles E Silsbee
43 Miles S of Jasper the county seat
26 Miles NE of Beaumont
ZIP code 77615
Area code 409
Population: 1,483 (2010) 1,430 (2000)
Evadale, Texas Area Hotels › Jasper
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History in
a Pecan Shell
Originally called
Richardson (after Neches River ferry operator Ben Richardson),
the town received a post office as early as 1839 (Ben Richardson,
postmaster). Richardson died in 1849, and the land sold to the Ford
family. Now known as Ford's Bluff, it was hoped that the location
on the river would become a milling facility. The family’s effort
failed when Philip Ford died of yellow fever while trying to buy equipment
in New Orleans.
He did manage to return home before dying, but his death dashed plans
for a mill. But the bluff did become a log collection point for mills
downriver in Beaumont.
In the 1890s, lumberman John Henry Kirby renamed the site after teacher
Eva Dale, of Jasper's Southeast
Texas Male and Female College. Kirby built a mill here in 1904 and
the town was granted a post office that same year.
In 1914 the mill was producing 70,000 board feet of lumber per day
and six years later the population had grown to 300.
The Great Depression closed the mill and by the end of the 1930 the
population was down to 100 residents.
In 1948, the Champion Paper and Fiber Company built a pulp mill here
which was later acquired by Temple-Eastex Industries. The boost to
the local economy increased the population to 700 in the early 1960s.
In 1984 the town had a population of just 715, but has doubled to
1,430 by 2000. |
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1920s map showing
Evadale in SW Jasper
County
just E of Hardin County
line
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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