From www.evanstonwy.com: "In late November, 1868, as the grading crews for the Union Pacific Railroad approached the present site of Evanston, Harvey Booth pitched a tent near what is now Front Street and opened a saloon and restaurant. His wooden floor and canvas sided structure is accepted as Evanston's first building. Within a few weeks of Booth's arrival, the new frontier railroad camp boasted a population of 650 residents.

On December 1, 1868, the Union Pacific rails had reached Evanston where a depot was located on June 9, 1869. The first train arrived here on December 16, 1868. The town was plotted by and named after the railroad's surveyor, James A. Evans. By July 4,1871, the Union Pacific had located its roundhouse and machine shops in Evanston which assured the town a permanency that had been denied other railroad towns.

As early as 1872, Evanston had four churches: Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Mormon. Once the city had been made the county seat for Uinta County, Harvey Booth was contracted to build the Courthouse, which he completed in 1874, at a total cost of $15,425. The first newspaper to be printed in Evanston was THE EVANSTON AGE which was started in 1871, by W.L. Vaughn.