Grant helps fund Kalispell historic walking tour

This article originally appeared in the Daily Inter Lake. Written by the Daily Inter Lake.The Montana History Foundation on Tuesday announced its grant cycle recipients for historic preservation projects across the state. Twenty-eight projects will receive a total of $212,147 in grants in 2022.This year marks the largest amount awarded since the foundation began the grant program in 2012. The History Foundation’s total amount awarded to date is now over $1.3 million.“We are humbled by the number of worthy projects seeking funds this year,” said foundation president Charlene Porsild. “It is an honor to support 28 community organizations working to preserve their history across Montana.”A $7,000 grant was awarded to the Northwest Montana Historical Society to develop a historic walking tour in downtown Kalispell.The Living Heritage Interpretive Center Project in Hot Springs received $5,000. The Youth Entrepreneur/Jobs for Montana graduate class will use the funds to establish an outdoor exhibit at the La Rue Hot Springs Museum.An aerial photography project based in Missoula received $10,000. The Archives and Special Collections at the University of Montana will digitize aerial photographs from the 1930s to the 1970s. This project will update the ArcGIS interactive mapping system of western Montana for public use.The Mai Wah Society will use $10,000 in funding to translate and interpret Chinese headstones in four cemeteries in Bozeman, Butte, Billings, and Helena. The group will create a website featuring the project’s findings.A $10,000 grant from the foundation will help The Crow Language Consortium develop a phoneapplication for approximately 13,000 Crow people and others to learn Crow and improve overall proficiency.Southeastern Montana Area Revitalization Team received $8,400 to replace and repair windows in the Old Baker State Bank Building. The project will restore a piece of Fallon County history and bring the building back to life.Helena, in association with Heritage Tourism Council and the Friends of the FireTower, will use a $10,000 grant to preserve and rehabilitate the “Guardian of the Gulch.”