The Quinn House, also referred to as Pine Gables, is a frame one and one-half story residential structure that sits on the edge of the Downtown Evanston Historic District. Constructed in 1883 for A.V. (Anthony) Quinn, it is one of the older and larger Victorian homes in Evanston. Quinn was a nineteenth century entrepreneur who first came west for the California gold rush. He moved east with the building of the Central Pacific Railroad and finally settled in Evanston in the 1870s. He opened the town's first bank, became a prosperous merchant, acquired extensive land holdings and participated in territorial politics. His wife, Mattie, was involved with the Women's Temperance Movement and the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees. The Quinn House embodies characteristics of traditional late 19th century Victorian architecture as constructed in small western town. The house is a fine example of architectural trends of the merchant class in thriving railroad communities such as Evanston.

Evanston, located along the Union Pacific's tracks in southwest Wyoming, began as an ordinary nineteenth century boom town in 1868 and eventually became the business center for southwest Wyoming. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century until the twenties, Evanston was the major maintenance facility for the railroad between Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. The town continued to grow because coal, a necessary component for the railroad, was discovered north of Evanston in 1868. Within walking distance of the Union Pacific depot, Evanston's commercial enterprises that served local miners and railroaders grew along Front and Main Streets. The downtown became a center for commercial and governmental activities when Evanston became the county seat in 1870. Evanston's commercial area began to take on a more substantial and permanent appearance during the 1880s and 1890s as prosperous merchants constructed stores such as Ferd's Hardware and the Blyth and Fargo. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s Evanston's commercial core continued to change. Although the local coal mines for the Union Pacific began to decline after 1900, oil was soon discovered and a renewed energy boom helped to maintain Evanston's economic base.

The Federal government constructed an impressive courthouse-post office in the town. Opera, and then movie houses, located in the commercial area became a significant point for the downtown. In 1915 the town of Evanston constructed a large city hall on the edge of the commercial area. Within Evanston's compact downtown, the town hall, post office, library, and county courthouse were all located within a three block area. Agricultural, railroad, timber and energy interests helped the commercial area maintain its continued growth from 1900 to 1930. Yet, national and local economic factors brought a halt to Evanston's prosperity in the late twenties. The Union Pacific closed its maintenance facility and the worldwide depression effectively stopped Evanston's fifty years of building.

As a social, commercial and government center, downtown Evanston made significant contributions to the development of southwest Wyoming. The fine commercial and governmental structures within the district embody distinctive characteristics that are typical of a successful downtown area constructed between 1880 and 1930. The district retains many visual reminders of the town's early growth. Many buildings still have original iron fronts; others have modern facades, while the original buildings remain intact behind these coverings.

This thematic study includes twelve post offices owned and administered by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) throughout the State of Wyoming. These include the Basin, Greybull, Douglas, Lander, Torrington, Thermopolis, Buffalo, Kemmerer, Powell, Yellowstone, Evanston, and Newcastle Main Post Offices. The buildings represent a continuum of federally constructed post offices allocated to the state between the turn of the century and 1941. The buildings exhibit a variety of styles and sizes but maintain a common demeanor representative of the federal presence. All of the buildings were constructed from standardized plans developed from guidelines provided by the Office of the Supervising Architect in the Treasury Department. Variations in design styles reflect both the transition in the design philosophies of the Supervising Architect and the requirements developed in response to the Depression. These variations in design, as well as functions are also somewhat related to the communities in which they were placed and reflect the economic, political, and governmental context of those communities.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a picturesque example of the Carpenter Gothic style as it was expressed by protestant communities throughout rural Wyoming. Constructed in 1884-1885, it features the basic floor plan of 19th century parish churches with standard Gothic treatments such as gabled roof, lancet windows of stained glass and tracery bargeboards in the gable. The bell tower is situated atop the intersecting gables of the narthex and features an octagonal witches cap with rectangular window louvers at its base.

In the mid 19th century many American church architects were strongly influenced by a group of English Ecclesiologists who actively promoted the construction of Gothic parish churches as the only suitable structure for Christian worship. This influence was enhanced by an increasing demand by designers and parishioners alike that church buildings reflect their use. Innovative Americans adapted the best of the sanctioned English styles to the needs and capabilities of their own religious communities; an architectural principle that is to be considered one of the Gothic revivals most lasting contributions to the development of a new aesthetic in American architecture.

St. Paul's is exemplary of that new aesthetic. It is a religious property deriving its primary significance from architectural distinction because it embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period and method of construction prevalent in small frontier communities of the late 19th century. St. Paul's is also important because it was the only Episcopalian church in the county, and the only Protestant church in the community.

The Uinta County Courthouse is actually the result of three stages of development. The first is the 1873 jail, a two-story brick structure built in the center of the town square. It was not intended to be freestanding for any length of time and was a simple structure devoid of ornamentation. The second part of the courthouse was built onto the jail in 1874. In 1910, a two-story brick addition was constructed at the front, or west end, of the courthouse. It changed the scale and character of the courthouse from that of a relatively simple, territorial building to a more pretentious, more national building. The addition is essentially Georgian Revival style.

The significance of the Uinta County Courthouse is based not only upon its architecture, but also upon its age and its place in the history of Uinta County. Uinta County is one of the oldest counties in Wyoming. It was the first new county created by Wyoming laws, established by the First Wyoming Territorial Legislature on December 1, 1869, and organized on April 7, 1870. In 1873, Governor John A. Campbell, Wyoming's first Territorial Governor, approved an act of the legislature authorizing the commissioners of Uinta County to erect a jail and courthouse to cost not more than $25,000. The jail portion of the courthouse was to be built first while the courthouse proper was to be completed by the following year. In 1887 a new jail was built and the jail portion of the courthouse was converted into office space and a storage area. The Uinta County Courthouse is the oldest courthouse building in the state of Wyoming.

The main Union Pacific tracks, as well as numerous spurs, bisect the railroad complex in Evanston, Wyoming. The complex contains frame and brick industrial buildings located in their original surroundings on the northeast side of Evanston. Most of the brick buildings were constructed in 1912-1913 while the frame structures date from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s. The construction materials and architectural designs act as unifying elements within the Union Pacific industrial yard. Today the names of the architects and builders remain unknown, yet each building represents typical construction techniques and designs for industrial buildings such as the roundhouse. Construction on the Union Pacific Railroad began in 1863. On November 23, 1868, Harvey Booth erected a tent on what is known as Front Street in Evanston, Wyoming. There he opened a restaurant and saloon in anticipation of the arrival the the Union Pacific Railway. The first cars reached Evanston in December, 1868 and, in the space of a few weeks, nearly 600 people, some living in tents, populated the area. Then came an order from the railway managers to move the end of the line and the base of supplies to Wasatch, twelve miles further west. The shanties and tents were torn down and within 24 hours, most of the citizens of Evanston picked up and moved to Wasatch. Within three days, the town was entirely depopulated. Evanston appeared to be destined to suffer the same fate of other ''end of the tracks'' towns.

The following June, however, the headquarters moved back to Evanston and the town began to grow. The Union Pacific Railway provided a dependable economic base for the resident population, and the opening of the coal mines near Evanston at Almy provided also a source of regular income for workers. The Union Pacific roundhouse and shop complex was completed on July 4, 1871. With the completion, Evanston became the major maintenance facility for the U.P. Division between Green River, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. In 1912-1913 new, larger facilities were built. A new roundhouse was erected, consisting of 27 stalls, each 100'' deep, along with a steam heating plant, electric lights, and a new turntable.

The development of diesel engines made the Evanston facility obsolete, and the roundhouse and shops were closed. Union Pacific maintenance crews were transferred to Green River. In 1927, the Union Pacific Reclamation Plant opened at the Evanston complex. There, rolling stock was repaired and refurbished. This plant employed over 300 men, making it Evanston's largest employer. In 1971, modern production methods and lower prices for new equipment caused the final closure of the roundhouse as a Union Pacific facility.

In 1974, the railroad deeded the land and facilities to the City of Evanston; local businessmen formed a corporation to develop the area. The same year, the plant was leased by the Wyoming Railway Car Corporation, for the purpose of preventive maintenance, painting, sandblasting, and designing of railroad cars. More than seventeen railway companies sent cars to Evanston for repairs. In 1979, the Lithcote Company purchased Wyoming Railway Car Corporation.

The Union Pacific Railroad saved Evanston from becoming another ''end of the tracks'' town. The remaining roundhouse and associated structures serve as a visible reminder of the important role played by the railway in the growth and development of Evanston.

Also known as the Wyoming State Hospital, the Wyoming State Insane Asylum encompasses 24 of the 154 current campus acres and is owned by the State of Wyoming. The district consists of fifteen contributing buildings, two noncontributing buildings and one contributing object. The buildings include the main administration building with patient dormitory wings, four separate patient dormitories, employee dormitory, staff apartment complex, three staff houses, cafeteria, two farm outbuildings, three maintenance buildings, and a noncontributing recreation center. The object is a cobblerock entrance at the main entrance to the hospital. The buildings show influences of late Victorian, and/or late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century Revival styles. The farm outbuildings and utilitarian buildings are vernacular. The hospital was established in 1887. Its remaining historic resources were constructed over a course of forty years beginning with the oldest dormitory on campus dating to 1907/1908 and ending with the staff apartment complex, two staff houses, and cafeteria that all date to 1948. Cheyenne architect William Dubois is responsible for the design of six separate large dormitories dating from 1907-1935.

The Wyoming State Insane Asylum has historical significance on several counts. First, the Asylum has state significance, both as an institution for the care of the mentally ill and in the organization and architecture of its buildings because, during the period of significance, the Asylum reflected contemporary thinking about and trends in the treatment of mental illness. Second, the Asylum is significant to the State of Wyoming because, from its inception to the present, the institution has served the population of the entire state of Wyoming as its only institution for the treatment of the mentally ill. In addition, several of the contributing structures in the district were designed by distinguished Wyoming architect William Dubois. Finally, the Asylum has great significance on the local level, as it has been a dominant feature of the Evanston landscape--physically, socially, and economically--since 1887.