Old Evans structures get a new home

It looks as though the most visible symbol of Evans will soon have a new home.

It will be less visible. But it will be home.

The seven fieldstone pillars and arch at Evans Middle School, the last remnants of the Evans School that burned down 50 years ago, became endangered when the Columbia County school board sold the land on which the structures sit.

The school now on the site closes in May, and the property is to be vacated by June as the campus moves to its new home on Hereford Farm Road. The property will then be razed to make way for commercial development on the valuable corner in the heart of Evans.

The developer, Blanchard and Calhoun, didn't want to keep the stone structures that were built in 1927. The company has offered to help pay for relocation of the Evans landmarks, and a Save the Pillars Committee has been working on a plan to figure out where the structures should go.

The answer has now come: The committee recently voted to give the structures to Columbia County for placement at the new memorial gardens, and the county has agreed to take them.

Sure, it won't be as visible as the busy Washington Road-Belair Road intersection. And the move will take the monuments away from a school site, which is a concern for some graduates of Evans High.

But at the county's new amphitheater and memorial gardens, the structures will find a home in which an important symbol of the county's history will become part of the county's future.

A final note: The Evans High School graduating classes of 1978-82 are sponsoring "The Last Chance to Dance," a May 6 event at the Evans Middle gym. The event will give Evans fans one last time to kick up their heels at the soon-to-be-extinct school site, and help raise funds for moving the pillars and arch.

For information, go to www.evanshighlastchancetodance.com.