EVANSTON — Through projects both large and small, the Evanston Historic Preservation Commission is working to do exactly what the name of the group says — preserve Evanston’s history. The small board of dedicated individuals — including President Jim Davis, Vice President Shelly Horne and members Tom Ferran, Nonie Proffit, Cindy Wasson, Debbie Liechty and Joannie Nixon, working along with City of Evanston staff members Meike Madrid and Jane Law — is currently in the midst of several projects, some more prominent than others.

On a recent summer evening, members of the commission could be found on the grounds of the Wyoming State Hospital, clearing weeds and debris from the facility’s cemetery that had fallen into some disrepair. Commission member Margaret Lester said that project began with an email from a tourist.

“Recently, a tourist traveling west on I-80 stopped to take a picture of the Wyoming State Hospital cemetery from the interstate. He was very upset about the declined condition of the cemetery,” said Lester. That tourist sent the photo he took on to the commission, who decided to reach out to WSH staff to see if they could help.

Lester said the commission understands that, with budget and time constraints, large projects tend to get tackled first and others fall by the wayside, which can result in things like the WSH cemetery falling into disrepair. “We really want to say thank you to the Wyoming State Hospital for allowing us to take these steps,” she said.

Not only did the commission members themselves do some cleanup work, they were assisted by Uinta County Weed and Pest staff, who sprayed the area for thistle prior to the cleanup. In addition, Walmart donated garbage bags, coolers of water and ice cream sandwiches for the volunteers who worked for the evening, and even helped with picking up and hauling away the trash.

Cazin’s Ace Hardware donated some stain for a needed redo of the cemetery sign and City of Evanston staff also volunteered for some trash hauling. Lester said more work remains for the WSH cemetery project, including hopefully working with local fabricators to create new crosses for the graves, some of which date back more than a century, including a Civil War veteran buried on the grounds. As an added bonus, commission members were able to track down a map of the cemetery, including names, that they hope to have put on a plaque on-site.

The cemetery rehabilitation project is one of the smaller items on the commission’s list of projects at the moment. A much larger and more prominent project is the commission’s ongoing work to move the train engine located at Railroad Park from its current home in North Evanston to the Roundhouse and Railyards Complex. The move would not only serve to get the engine on the grounds of Evanston’s historic complex, but would also help in efforts to protect it from deterioration, say commission members.

According to commission Vice President Horne, the relocation project is expected to cost approximately $10,000. To help with those costs, the commission recently held a garage sale event that brought in about $1,500 and other fundraising efforts continue, including accepting donations from the public.

Another project involving the Roundhouse and Railyards Complex is development of a site for the Wasatch Water Tower. The commission applied for and received a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund for improvement and development of an area at the complex near the Patterson Visitor Center. Together with funds from the Union Pacific Foundation and local agency matching, the cost of that project is approximately $24,000. After the site is developed and prepared, funds would then need to be secured to either move the water tower from its present location or to create a replica on-site.

A couple of other projects include a relatively small project to develop additional signage at Martin Park to add to the current signage regarding the Lincoln Highway and historic Highway 30 and the ambitious and huge project to find a use for and save at least some of the historic buildings on the old campus of the Wyoming State Hospital. The latter project has been discussed for the past couple of years after the State began the project to move into a new facility on the grounds and vacate the old buildings, some of which date back to the very early 1900s.

To help with that project, the City of Evanston and Uinta County applied for and received Wyoming Business Council grants for a total of $50,000 to conduct a feasibility study of what could be done with the old campus; both agencies have also applied for an additional $50,000 from the Economic Development Commission to help with such a study.

The Historic Preservation Commission members stay busy with their hands in all these projects and welcome public input and participation. The commission meets at 5 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at Evanston City Hall, and meetings are open to the public.