Evinston Community Store and Post Office

The Evinston Community Store and Post Office is significant under Criterion A as a rare surviving example of a community general store and post office. The building was erected as a warehouse in 1884 but has served Evinston and the surrounding area continuously as a store and post office since 1896. It is significant under Criterion C as a rare example of a remarkably unaltered, rural, frame vernacular, commercial building.

The small, rural community of Evinston is located in what once was part of the Arredondo Grant, given by the King of Spain to Don Fernando de la Maza Arredondo in c1817. About 1879, William Drayton Evins (1830-1899) came to south Alachua County in the central part of Florida and bought 1 and near Micanopy. He surveyed, cleared, fenced, and farmed the land, and planted a citrus grove and a peach orchard. Railroads moved into Central Florida in the 1880s, opening the interior of the state to further settlement. Evins deeded land in what is now Evinston to the Florida Southern Railway in 1882. A post office was established there on February 25, 1882. By April 1883, the community of Evinston was platted and three lots in the northeast corner of Block 6 were sold by the railway to Simon H. Benjamin and Jacob Katz. In August, they sold the lots to W.P. Shettleworth.

Evinston's population in 1886 was a mere 13, primarily made up of orange growers and vegetable and truck farmers. The two largest farmers were Shettleworth and W.D. Evins. Even with so small a population, the community supported a school, a Presbyterian Church, and a store. Farmers and growers around the state suffered great losses during the Big Freezes of 1894-95 and 1899, and many became shopkeepers or local officers to supplement their agricultural income. Evinston's population reached a peak of 300 around 1912 but fell to 200 in the 1920s. Until 1956, the depot in Evinston served the area's transportation needs. Evinston, with a current population of 150, remains an agricultural community, although much of the farmland is now pastureland and the citrus groves are again recovering from freezes.

W.P. Shettleworth is credited with the construction of the town's oldest buildings. In 1884, he erected a warehouse on the northeast corner of Block 6. It was used by Simon H. Benjamin to store merchandise unloaded from the train for his stores in nearby Flemington and Micanopy. Shettleworth sold the building in May 1884, and it passed through numerous owners until 1909 when it was bought by Henry Deaver Wood (1865-1930), Ev ins' son-in-law. J. L. Wolfenden, one of the interim owners, is credited with converting the warehouse into a store and moving the post office into it in 1896.

Henry (Hal) D. Wood was a mercantile partner with W.D. Evins' son, Robert C. Evins, from 1906 until Robert's accidental death in 1910. In 1909, they bought the store from the W.T. Rose Estate. It has remained in the Wood family since then. Hal Wood continued to run the store, and also served as postmaster from 1913 until his death in 1930. His older son Robert Pierce Wood then served as postmaster from 1930 to 1934, followed by his younger brother, Frederick William Wood, who served as postmaster from 1934 to 1979. He was honored in 1975 as the longest-serving postmaster in the state.

When Fred Wood took over management of the store in 1934, he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Paul C. Swink. Their old sign, "Wood & Swink", is still over the entrance to the store. Over the years, Fred and his wife, Jane Yongue Wood (the current owner), cleared the store of all debts. Fred Wood managed and owned the store, and served as postmaster for forty-five years, and he is the single most significant name associated with the building. Thus, an alternative name for the property is the Fred Wood Store. His wife has managed the store since his death in 1981.

From 1886 to 1956, the Evinston Community Store and Post Office was the communications center for the surrounding area as a major drop-off point in the mail system. Citizens of the area congregated at the store awaiting the mail. The building continues to serve the community as a store, post office, and central gathering place and remains a rare example of a rural business and communication facility which has remained in continuous use for over a century.

The Evinston Community Store and Post Office is a rare example of a rural, frame vernacular, a commercial building that maintains its original integrity to a remarkable degree. It was one of the earliest buildings of Evinston, a small community that developed in the Alachua County frontier as the railroad opened up Central Florida for settlement in the mid-1880s. The 1884 building is a fine example of the construction skills, knowledge, and materials available in Alachua County at that time. Notable features of the simple, functional building include its board and batten siding, interior woodwork, and old post office boxes.