My Genealogy Hound

JOHN W. EVANS, planing-mill, Bloomington; another of the old residents of this city and one, too, who has been directly identified with many of the changes and improvements made in Bloomington, is John W. Evans, contractor, lumber-dealer and manufacturer; he is a native of Cambria Co., Penn.; was born in February, 1828, and came West in 1852. After traveling over the Western States for a few years he, in 1855, located in Bloomington, where he has since resided; he had learned the trade of carpenter and builder in the East; in 1856, he formed a partnership with Mr. Hayes and engaged in contracting and building; their business grew to such proportions that from 1870 to 1873, their contracting amounted to about $160,000 per year. Since the death of Mr. Hayes, in 1874, Mr. Evans has conducted the business alone; he has been an energetic, hard-working man, and now owns a good property, which is wholly the result of his own industry and good financiering.