 By the late 1850s, Langford had built a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a sawmill near the current site of the town.An Alabama man named Evant Brooks purchased some of land from Langford in the late 1870s.In 1881, Brooks donated of land "for sale and settlement as a town", and by 1884 the growing community changed its name to "Evant" in Brooks' honor.