History Colorado’s mission is to make the Byers-Evans House property, under their stewardship, a jewel in Denver with a revived and refreshed space that honors the history of women in Colorado. They want to highlight stories of women like Anne Evans who lived at Byers-Evans and helped shaped Denver. The Byers-Evans House Museum has received funds from the Colorado Historical Foundation to restore the structure. After the restoration of the house, they will be addressing the gardens, which have been neglected for many years.

Our GCD task force committed to help with the Byers-Evans Garden restoration in three phases. The first phase was to make their patio attractive throughout the fall and winter months for their visitors and events. Our group planted pots with Boxwoods, columnar Junipers, Pansies, Poppies and Mums. In keeping with their mission, on October 11, the International Day of the Girl Child, a tea was held at Byers Evans House to honor the winners of an essay contest. Students in grades 2-8 were asked to write about women in Colorado history who inspire them.

In the second phase, we will help decide which plants are worth saving in the existing Byers-Evans Garden and review a landscape plan submitted in 2006 by Mundus Bishop Design but never implemented. While reviewing the existing landscape plan, we will also estimate the cost of the Garden’s redesign and be able to look at grant opportunities from our organization and others such as The Cultural Landscape Foundation https://tclf.org.

The final phase will be the Garden’s redesign.  There will be considerable planning and collaboration in 2018 with a dedicated staff at History Colorado and other community groups interested in this restoration.