Before settlement, the Kaurna people, or Adelaide Plains tribe, lived in the area.

In 1850 James Philcox named sections 3220 and 3221 in the Hundred of Munno Para, calling the allotment Evanston.

James Philcox (22 January 1812 – 31 March 1893) was an English land speculator and property developer in the 1840s and 1850s in the colony of South Australia.

James Philcox was born in Burwash, Sussex, England, on 22 January 1812, of parents John and Esther.

In 1853 a plan of the Evanston township was lodged at the South Australian Lands Title Office, when it was transferred to Sir John Morphett.