Construction begins on planned Kyle Evans, western heritage museum in Wessington Springs

Jul. 17—WESSINGTON SPRINGS, S.D. — In the town of Wessington Springs, the history of the west still runs deep.

"I'm in heaven on a horse, in the wide open prairies of Dakota," softly croons Kyle Evans, the town's most famous native son, in the hook of his 1984 song, "In Heaven on a Horse." A backing singer accompanies him from his band Company Cowboys, as a steel guitar plays and a soft drumbeat anchors the tune's slow-galloping pace. "Where life sings me a melody and my heart sings in harmony — my troubles never been so few before."

It paints a scene straight out of the history books of the rolling prairie town of Wessington Springs, where he was born in 1947.

Evans, who died in 2001, was a cowboy-poet who reached the ears and hearts of many around the nation. His illustrious career as a singer and songwriter spanned multiple decades, 18 albums and thousands of shows. In singing about solitary cowboys and rodeo heroes, his lyrics seemed to encapsulate a western heritage; one that fills the history books of Wessington Springs.

Now his legacy — and the town's history — will live on.

Recently, dirt work began on the Kyle Evans Memorial Western Heritage Center in Wessington Springs. When it is finished — which is projected to be in 2024 — the center will pay homage to the town's storied cowboy history. Although it will have much about Evans, the center is ultimately intended to be a window into the town's broader, oftentimes colorful western heritage. Ground has broken on the town's main north-south street, Dakota Avenue, and will be located near the town's historic 1905 Opera House.

"The goal is to honor him and at the same time preserve the western heritage of Wessington Springs," said Phil Wipf, the president of the Kyle Evans Memorial Wagon Train, the nonprofit responsible for the center's creation. "His legacy and his memory are very important to the community at Wessington Springs. I don't think that'll ever change."

The feature exhibit will be a stagecoach that Evans built by hand with the help of friends some 40 years ago. It will be displayed prominently, a testament to Evans' character as a cowboy and a do-it-yourself kind of person.

"My uncle was a tinkerer," said Evans' niece Loree Gaikwoski, who is part of the effort to build the heritage center, speaking of his love for fixing things by hand.

She said that besides Evans, the center will feature other colorful western characters, such as Dr. Roscoe Dean, who was born in 1917 was known for his work for rural health care in Wessington Springs, as well as being a cowboy.

"To be a great doctor in those days, you had to be a cowboy too," Gaikwoski said.

The center's construction is one of two historical collections currently receiving upgrades in Wessington Springs currently; the Jerauld County Pioneer Museum is moving into a renovated building as well, displaying additional pieces of the county's history.

But those involved with the Evans facility said it will focus on a more interactive experience for visitors, intended to give visitors a feel for what life was like during the town's history.

"There's a lot of characters in eastern South Dakota that were cowboys through and through, and they're going to be a part of it. Our town has such a rich heritage on the Western side of things. This center is really about telling those stories," Gaikowski said.

The illustrious career of famed cowboy-crooner Kyle Evans has long been a source of pride for Wessington Springs. After being inspired by the music of his mother and father,

Evans began

his musician days by playing for spare change on a broken guitar. His career took off in the late sixties, after forming a band known as Company Cowboys. Writing songs about cowboy life and rodeo heroes, his lyrics painted images of a western way of life, often portraying a complex picture. As well as conveying a deep love of the plains and the cowboy life, his music often revealed a life that could be harsh and lonely at times.

Two decades after forming the band, he was an established star on the national stage. In 1989, he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame, as well as being given the South Dakota Centennial Album award by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Evans died in 2001 in a motorcycle crash after hitting a deer. He was 54.

The heritage center is being funded by an annual wagon train that began 10 years after his death, named in his honor. During the two-day Kyle Evans Memorial Wagon Train, held just after Memorial Day, visitors from all over the state and country traverse a fifteen mile trail through the plains on horseback and in covered wagons. The event — which garners about 300 visitors each year — pays homage to the region's western heritage. At night, participants sit around a campfire listening to cowboy musicians in the vein of Evans himself, who sing about the West.

This year the event will, like most years, be held in early September. It's an event that many say Evans himself would have been part of. Since the wagon train's inception, it has raised much of the money needed for the center's construction — around $75,000 of the necessary $200,000.

"We wanted to celebrate his life and pay respect to him," Wipf said. "Now, we're starting this Western Heritage Center through the Wagon Train."

Gaikowski said one of the reasons for the wagon train was an effort by many people to keep his legacy and stories alive. It came about due to how integral Kyle Evans was to keeping Wessington's Springs stories alive.

"He carried a lot of the weight of telling those stories. Then all of a sudden he was gone," Gaikwoski said. "They started it to keep that spirit alive."