Our Story
In 2020, Teton Trust for Historic Places was established to hold historic preservation easements on the three buildings on The Block in downtown Jackson. At the time, the new Trust was the only organization in Wyoming with the expertise and experience needed to own and manage such easements. Today, Teton Trust is still one of only two organizations providing historic preservation easements in Wyoming.
Mission
To facilitate the preservation of Teton County’s historic structures and landscapes in perpetuity through partnerships with property owners, nonprofits, and government entities.
Objectives
- To increase awareness of historic preservation tools and opportunities
- To increase the availability of historic preservation resources, such as trained appraisers
- To educate real estate agents and developers to use historic easements
- To ensure that historic easements will be enacted on local historic properties
Overview
Teton Trust for Historic Places was established to offer our community significant historic preservation expertise and professional historic easement management. Teton Trust’s creation was hurried and urgent, as the preservation easements on the Genevieve Block buildings needed a host organization. In a short period of time, our group has secured and managed three easements, created partnerships with numerous nonprofit and government agencies, and received a grant from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole.
History
Teton Trust for Historic Places was established in 2020 to hold historic preservation easements on the three historic buildings on the “Van Vleck Block” on East Broadway in Jackson, WY. These buildings currently house three treasured local businesses: Café Genevieve, Persephone Bakery, and the Healthy Being Juicery.
The “Save The Block” campaign was a groundbreaking event for our community, and historic preservation in particular, in Teton County that brought together a coalition of private and public interests to preserve these significant pieces of Jackson’s history. As only the second instance of the use of historic preservation easements in Wyoming (the first was the Sheridan Inn, whose preservation easement has since been extinguished), these easements were a critical part of the complex real estate transaction that resulted in the preservation of The Block. These types of easements provide an important incentive for historic preservation by creating tax deductions for the excess value of the property above that of the historic structure or landscape.
The Trust’s goal is to play an important role in supporting the continuing preservation of our historic community character.
