5 sites up for designation as landmarks

Five local properties are being considered by the Sidney Historical Preservation Board and the Sidney city council for local landmarking designation.

The Shelter House, Carnegie Library, Camp Lookout, Boot Hill Cemetery and Christ Episcopal Church are up for consideration.

"These are great properties," said Megan McGown, director of the Sidney Historical Preservation Board. "The landmark designation is an honor to the properties to have that designation and to say they're deemed worthy of some local designation as a landmark. It also provides some protection, so nobody can undo some of the historical elements. It allows for a bit of oversight in terms of the exteriors of the structures."

Christ Episcopal Church and the Carnegie Library are already registered with the National Register of Historic Places.

Located at 10th Avenue and Linden, the Christ Episcopal Church is one of the last remaining physical representations left in the state that is closely associated with the governments attempt to integrate Native Americans into the U.S. Army. The church was built between 1886 and 1887, making it one of Sidney's most storied landmarks.

It was associated with Fort Sidney and Company I, 21st Infantry that was comprised of Native Americans commanded by a white officer. he church was registered with the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The Carnegie Library building, located at 740 Illinois St., was initially funded 101 years ago.

Sidney's first public library opened in 1917 and closed its doors as a library for the last time in 1965. In 1991, it was registered with the National Register of Historic places. There are a total of 2,509 Carnegie Libraries in the world and 1,689 built in the United States.

It has served as a polling site for local elections, a museum and even a classroom for the school system. For the past four decades, it has been used as the offices for the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce.

Boot Hill Cemetary, located on East Elm, is one of the most storied sites in Sidney. Boot Hill has been around since 1868. It host a plethora of interesting characters. It was originally created to bury soldiers of Fort Sidney who died in battle. The burials were discontinued in 1894 and was excavated in 1922 to remove 22 bodies. By the time the excavation crew found the 22nd body, they had found an additional 221 bodies that they also removed. It's widely speculated that many bodies still remain buried there.

The Shelter House, located in Legion Park, was built in 1939 by the Work Progress Administration. It still serves a significant role in Sidney and is provided free of charge to patrons to host family or community events.

Camp Lookout, located on 940 Elm St., may be the oldest building in Sidney. There's evidence that it may predate the city all together. It is believed that the building may have been built in 1886. The original Sidney Barracks (now known as Fort Sidney) originally surrounded the building until it was relocated to the other side of the tracks near Lodgepole Creek in 1871.

It was later sold into private ownership and was used for a number of purposes including a residence and remained that way until a few years ago when the restoration committee decided to put efforts into restoring and preserving the property.

"What we hope to do is create a section on our website that let's people know about the local landmarks we have," McGown said. "Our hope is that people will come see these properties. We tout the history of Sidney and a lot of things that we market. It's important to just keep the structures looking like they once were, just keeping them maintained."