Appalachian History Series
Evarts High School stood at the heart of Clover Fork for most of the twentieth century, first as the community’s own secondary school, then as one of three high schools in the Harlan County district. The Wildcats carried blue and gold in halls filled with class banners, pep club signs, and KHSAA schedules. The building is quiet today, yet it remains a touchstone for alumni and a focus for new reuse plans that aim to keep the school at the center of local life. What follows is the story of how Evarts High began, how it was folded into a countywide consolidation, and how people are working to keep the place alive for the next generation.
From mission school roots to a town high school
Long before varsity teams wore Wildcat sweaters, education in the Clover Fork valley grew out of church and mission work. A 1942 booklet preserved by Pine Mountain Settlement School traces local schooling to the Black Mountain Academy and the Community Church at Evarts, with classes and leaders that seeded later public schooling in the town. These records place Evarts’ educational story in a countywide movement that linked churches, settlement workers, and citizens to expand formal schooling across Harlan County.
By the early 1920s Evarts organized a true high school program. Alumni narratives remember 1921 as the year a small cohort began secondary classes, and they describe the 1923 brick schoolhouse that replaced earlier frame buildings. Those same community histories note that Evarts joined the Harlan County system in 1934, a change that aligned the school with county administration while it kept serving the town and Clover Fork. These are community accounts, so they are best read alongside archival material, but they capture the local memory of how the high school grew.
The city’s own summary fixes an important public date. The City of Evarts lists 1937 as the opening year for “Evarts High School,” then notes that the school “was forced to close at the end of the 2007 school year due to consolidation.” That municipal statement gives us the official bookends for the public high school era in town.
A KHSAA member with a proud Wildcat identity
Evarts competed under the Kentucky High School Athletic Association for decades, and the KHSAA’s archives and record books help put names and seasons to that history. The All-Time Kentucky School List confirms Evarts as a member school, and the association’s record book shows future Kentucky coaching legend Billy Hicks starting his head-coaching career at Evarts in 1979 to 1980, years before state championship runs at Lexington Catholic and Scott County. Those same KHSAA histories also recall a 1978 to 1979 season that ended with forfeitures for using an ineligible player, a tough footnote that appears in the KHSAA’s retrospective on Harlan County basketball.
Local papers supplied the nightly box scores and the human side of school life. The Harlan Daily Enterprise, available in the Newspapers.com archive, covered Evarts teams, teachers, and student events through the decades. That paper’s pages are a primary source for any season-by-season account of the Wildcats.
Consolidation and closure
The move that ended Evarts High as a four-year school can be traced in contemporaneous filings. In June 2005, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association posted Title IX annual reports that include a Cumberland High School submission carrying this note: “The Harlan County Board of Education has voted to consolidate our High School with Evarts High School and Cawood High School.” That sentence, buried in a compliance packet, is the clearest on-the-record signal of the change that followed.
County coverage later summarized what happened next. The Harlan Enterprise explained that Cawood, Evarts, and Cumberland closed in 2008, with students moved to the new Harlan County High School. That timeline matches the 2007 completion announcement for the new county facility and the City of Evarts’ closing date at the end of the 2007 school year.
The building after the bells
The old schoolhouse did not vanish from local life. A 2016 Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development site sheet labeled “Old Evarts High School” documents the property at 100,000 square feet and maps it among city streets, a practical snapshot used by anyone courting investment or redevelopment.
Community groups rallied to keep the building useful and intact, a point the Harlan Enterprise highlighted in a 2024 feature on “Saving the school.” In 2025, a larger reuse plan gathered steam. WYMT reported that Backroads of Appalachia and partners won a Just Transition Fund “Coal Communities Get Ready” award to begin “Hope High KY,” a plan to convert the former Evarts High into a multi-use hub for health, education, job training, creative work, and recreation, with public input meetings scheduled in town. The Just Transition Fund’s own project spotlight describes the vision in similar terms.
Why the Wildcats still matter
Evarts High shaped the lives of students from Kenvir to Yocum Creek for generations. Its teams, teachers, and traditions are stitched into Harlan County identity. The school’s consolidation into Harlan County High made sense within a countywide facilities plan that aimed to pool resources, yet the building itself remains a landmark and a rally point. If Hope High succeeds, the old school will host new kinds of learning and community work, keeping the spirit of Evarts education in the same place where it started.
Sources and further reading
City of Evarts, “About” page, municipal history with opening year 1937 and closing after 2007 school year. evartskentucky
Kentucky High School Athletic Association, Title IX Annual Report 2004 to 2005 for Cumberland High School, note on Harlan County Board of Education vote to consolidate with Evarts and Cawood. KHSAA
KHSAA, Basketball Record Book entry showing Billy Hicks’ early head-coaching assignment at Evarts. KHSAA
KHSAA, All-Time Kentucky School List confirming Evarts among member schools. KHSAA
EKU Special Collections and Archives, KHSAA Records finding aid, repository for minutes, directories, and eligibility files, 1917 onward. ekufindingaids.libraryhost.com
Pine Mountain Settlement School Archives, Historical Resume of Evarts; the Community Church; Black Mountain Academy (1942). pinemountainsettlement.net
Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, Old Evarts High School building sheet, Oct. 19, 2016. Team Kentucky
Harlan Daily Enterprise archive landing, Newspapers.com, contemporaneous reporting on Evarts High. Newspapers
Harlan Enterprise, “Merger changed dynamics of county sports scene,” Dec. 6, 2019, consolidation overview. Harlan Enterprise
Harlan Enterprise, “Saving the school,” Feb. 28, 2024, community preservation efforts. Harlan Enterprise
WYMT, “Hope High KY project aims to revitalize former Harlan Co. high school,” May 6, 2025. https://www.wymt.com
Just Transition Fund, Backroads of Appalachia project spotlight describing Hope High plans. Just Transition Fund
American School & University, “New Harlan County, Ky., high school will be ready next year,” April 15, 2007, context for the new county facility that replaced Evarts, Cawood, and Cumberland. ASU Magazine