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Historic Preservation Commission outlines walking tours, BYU photo access and Main Street grant goals
Summary
Commission Chair Laurel Cunningham told the City Council the commission expanded its volunteer base and projects in 2025, aims for Tier 2 in the Utah Main Street Program to unlock $60,000 in grants, is digitizing local oral histories, and will host a lecture on local photographer Alma Christiansen on April 27, 2026.
Laurel Cunningham, chair of the Pleasant Grove Historic Preservation Commission, reviewed the commission's 2025 accomplishments and plans for 2026, saying the commission now has 10 volunteers and two new appointments will be added during tonight's regular meeting. "The City was accepted into the program in May 2025," Cunningham said, referring to the Utah Main Street Program, and she said reaching Tier 2 would make the city eligible for roughly $60,000 in façade and building-restoration grants for Main Street property owners.
Cunningham described four subcommittees (preservation, archives, history and publications, and community outreach) and summarized ongoing projects: an oral-history initiative to videotape residents aged 90 and older, updated walking-tour booklets (three walking tours were hosted in 2025, with the first repeat scheduled for Locust Avenue), a Facebook presence approaching 2,000 followers, and outreach with neighboring commissions in Lindon and American Fork. She also said she is working with BYU and the State Historical Records Advisory Board to increase access to nearly 700 photographs by Alma Christiansen (1912'1925) that the family donated to BYU in 1990.
Council Member Cyd LeMone and Mayor Eric Jensen expressed appreciation for the commission's work and asked that the commission share walking-tour schedules and offer Commission contact information for follow-up. Cunningham said a spring lecture about Alma Christiansen will be held April 27, 2026, and noted the commission is exploring micro-grants to help homeowners maintain historic exteriors.
