When the Main South Line railway was built from Dunedin a terminal station here, Whaitiripaku, provided a transit point to horse-drawn transport northward.

Evansdale's period as a railhead encouraged rapid development and in a short time there was a post and telegraph office and a school.

The community began a long, slow economic decline: the school (closed in 1928) and the post office both relocated to Warrington.

In the early 1970s, the Main North Road, now known as State Highway 1 was widened and straightened through the village with devastating effect, taking out about half a dozen houses.

The village declined economically from the 1980s to the 2000s as Rogernomics and changes in the fuel industry led to the closure of the Works depot, railway halt and service station.