Evansville was first settled in the 1830s by New Englanders who were attracted to the area by its pristine wooded landscape and the placid Allen Creek.

Evansville is named for Dr. John M. Evans, a doctor and postmaster during the city's early years.

At this point, Evansville's economy was based on industry and manufacturing of carriages, wagons, pumps, windmills and iron castings.

The economy was also based on agriculture: dairying; farming (production of wheat and tobacco); and stock raising.

The first newspaper, Badger, was established in 1894 by native sisters, Eleanor and Marilla Andrews and was run by all female employees.

[6] In February 2024, Evansville made history as the first town in Wisconsin to experience a tornado in that month.

The tornado was rated as an EF-2 and caused $7.4 million in damage to farms and other buildings in the eastern part of the city.

A German minister and his wife were apprehended on their way out of town before being brought downtown and forced to kiss the American flag.

Other "slackers" were made to wear sleighbells as they rode atop a car's radiator, while others were forced to dance in a snake formation around a bonfire.

A 73-year-old woman who passed on participating in the "Your Share is Fair" war bond campaign was dragged from her home by the mob, placed in a large animal cage and paraded about the streets before being parked before the fire.

The woman, Mary J. Shaw, had previously bought bonds and supported the Red Cross and other war relief efforts.

Her attempts to see her assailants punished were brushed aside by the local sheriff, and testimony before the state legislature was similarly disregarded.

Designed by the architectural firm of Claude and Starck of Madison, Wisconsin in the Prairie style, it features stained glass windows and plaster friezes just below the overhanging roof line.

Later a line was built from Evansville to Janesville, making a more direct route between Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.

[citation needed] C&NW was acquired by Union Pacific in 1995, which abandoned much of the segment between Madison and Evansville.

Because of erosion into Allen Creek from upstream farm fields and the resulting silt deposits that accumulated, Lake Leota had become shallower over the years, reaching an average depth of only one and a half feet by 2000.

There was some controversy in Evansville over the cost of dredging, so a referendum was put to the city's voters in November 2008.

Evansville has four gas stations, several banks, a full-sized grocery store, and several specialty shops and restaurants.

The Evansville EMS is housed separate from the fire department and is located on Church Street as well.

In 2005, Evansville High School earned a Blue Ribbon award from the United States Department of Education.

The Blue Ribbons Schools program honors public and private K-12 schools that are academically superior in their states or that dramatically demonstrate superior gains in students achievements The major employers in Evansville are: Baker Manufacturing Company, a pump and well maker; Stoughton Trailers, which builds semi-trailer chassis; Varco-Pruden, which manufactures prefab metal buildings; and Evansville Manor, a nursing home.

The terminal had included multiple spur, classification, and industrial tracks, but after 1996, when the line was sold to Union Pacific railway, nearly all rail facilities in town were removed.

The line, which at a point in time carried 70 mph-plus speeds, was left in a state of disrepair .