Livingston Depot Foundation Inc

Building preservation/community event center the organization raises funds to preserve this historic and iconic former railroad depot through rentals of auxiliary buildings, fundraising events, and providing a venue for community celebrations and events. The organization was formed in 1985 to restore and maintain the building in perpetuity. The building was designed by reed & stem, the original architects for new york's grand central station. Several large-scale infrastructure projects have been undertaken through the years in order to preserve the iconic building as the anchor of the historic downtown district. Beginning in 2018, an hvac system upgrade has been providing more energy efficiency. The foundation completed an upgrade of single pane windows to increase efficiency in accordance with best practices in historic preservation. In december of 2022, the foundation obtained 151,600 in federal funding through the american rescue plan act and the city of livingston to address water and sewer infrastructure needs, including restoroom accessibility throughout the historic property. Additional fundraising and design work commenced in 2023 and continued in 2024 to improve health, safety, and accessibility for the community while continuing to preserve the depot for the future. The project commenced in late 2024, and is slated to be completed in 2025. The building has served as a welcome center for visitors to yellowstone park for over a century. Summer travelers use its central location to launch their visits to the park and shop in downtown livingston. Many nonprofits use the building to gather or raise funds, including big brothers/big sisters of park county, livingston hospice care, elevate montessori, the city of livingston, western sustainability exchange, living hope church, park county community foundaiton, bozeman downtown improvement district, livingston downtown improvement district, the park high school jazz program, loaves and fishes, montessori island school, livingston healthcare, park county rural resilence, and montana conservation voters. The building also offers a local and low-cost option for professional conferences, including the park county special education cooperative, montana professional photographers association, and community health partners. Annual events include light up livingston-the lighting ceremony for over 5,000 attendees in depot park, and the lighting of the memorial tree eachyear in conjunction with the hospice program. The depot park is also a keylink to a bike path that connects bicyclists from the north side of town to a path that stretches miles down paradise valley towards the park. It serves as the first stop of many bicycle tour groups, further increasing traffic and commerce to downtown businesses.