First Baptist Church was established in 1882 as the Etna Baptist Church of Christ. However, the name of the church was changed to the Stevensville and Corvallis Baptist Church in November of that year. Services were initially held in the Etna schoolhouse until the church was erected in 1886, which provided the congregation more space. The church started a Sunday school and held baptisms in the Bitterroot River. It didn't buy a bell, which cost $8, until 1901. The congregation reached its peak membership in the 1970s, which resulted in the construction of an addition that had a basement, new kitchen, dining room, classrooms, a nursery, and storage space. It is not readily apparent when the church became Bitterroot Family Church.

Bitterroot Family Church was erected in 1886 and is a rare example of Stick Style architecture in Montana. 

Website

Bitterroot Family Church is historically significant for its architecture and role as an important religious and social center since its construction in 1886. Originally known as First Baptist Church, it was designed by Thomas W. Longstaff in the Stick Style, which is rarely seen in Montana. Typical features of this style exhibited by the the church are the decorative diagonal, vertical, and horizontal wood boards that mimic the structure of the building. Other notable features of the church are the bell tower, clapboard siding, and stained glass windows.  

Bitterroot Family Church

This short walk through the small town of Stevensville includes stops at several churches, including the St. Mary's Mission, known as the "birthplace of Catholicism" for the state of Montana. The tour concludes at the Bass Mansion which was constructed in 1908. 

Starting in the 1840s, the Catholic Church began sending priests westward on mission trips to spread the word of Catholicism to settlers and Native Americans in the region. One of the most prominent of these missionaries was Father Pierre Jean DeSmet. “Pierre Jean DeSmet had long been associated with the vast Missouri-Platte, upper Great-Basin and Columbia-snake geographic complexes. Between 1840-1870 one might find him in almost any Indian village, baptizing or blessing children, instructing adults, or simply talking” (Antrei, p. 26). In 1840, DeSmet embarked on a westward trip from St. Louis, leading a group of Catholic missionaries. The most notable of the missionaries included Father Nicolas Point, a French priest and painter, and Father Gregory Mengarini, an Italian priest and linguist. During his time in Western Montana, Father DeSmet came to know and respect the Salish Indians, who were the predominant group that resided in the Bitterroot Valley. He proselytized the Catholic faith to them, and they were receptive to his teachings, because the Salish people believed power derived from spiritual belief. Historian Gerald McKevitt, explained, “the native peoples, who, like the Jesuits, believed that the supernatural world could be communicated with, valued and affirmed the power of prayer….One of the reasons why they invited the Black Robes to come among them was to learn their invocations and thereby acquire Christian power” (p. 55).The Salish expressed their commitment to the Catholic faith, so Father DeSmet created the St. Mary’s Mission on September 24, 1841. Father DeSmet, Father Mengarini, and Father Point successfully planned and built the first structures of the mission. Point wrote in his journal,“when the hunters returned from their summer hunt, the cross was already elevated above the site of their future reduction, and their chapel was also rising. At the sight of the work going on, which had for the Indians all the interest of a novelty, and which promised so much for their future, there was a universal joy in the camp” (p. 41). The priests also introduced agricultural practices into the Salish’s traditional hunting and gathering survival techniques. In 1845, Father Ravalli joined his fellow Jesuit missionaries in the area and provided basic medical care to the Salish. In 1846, the Salish discovered that Father DeSmet had been sharing Catholicism with their enemies, the Blackfeet Indians. Father DeSmet attempted to bridge the divide between the two tribes; however, the attempt was ultimately unsuccessful. The Catholic Church consequently closed the mission in 1850 and sold the land to John Owen, an Army veteran. The Church burned the original mission structures down in order to “save it from desecration” (St. Mary’s Mission Website). Owen used the land where the mission previously stood to build Fort Owen and established it as a trading post in the valley.In 1866, the Catholic Church decided to rebuild the Catholic community in the Bitterroot Valley and sent Father Ravalli to re-establish St. Mary’s Mission. He rebuilt the mission one mile from its original location, and expertly reinvigorated the Salish community’s practice of Catholicism. Ravalli continued to provide medical care as well as administer medication among the Salish and the community at large. However, in 1891, the federal government forcibly removed the Salish from their ancestral homeland and marched them onto the Flathead Reservation north of Missoula. This event ceased Native practice of Catholicism and caused the mission to close its doors once again. The Catholic Church re-opened St. Mary’s in 1921 and the congregation used the historic chapel until 1951. The congregation then built a new chapel, which is still in use today.Currently, the mission’s campus includes the historic chapel, Father Ravalli’s original living quarters, Chief Victor’s cabin (which serves as a Salish museum), a reproduction of a Salish teepee camp, and the congregation's graveyard, where Father Ravalli is buried. As a visitor, you can participate in a tour of the mission from April to mid October and see the historic grounds.

St. Mary’s Mission, nestled in the Bitterroot Valley, was the birthplace of Catholicism in Montana. The mission is significant to the Catholic Church and the state of Montana because its establishment led to the inception of various Catholic missions throughout the region and the founding of Stevensville, Montana’s first permanent settlement. In 1841, a small group of Catholic priests, led by Father Pierre Jean DeSmet, established the St. Mary’s Mission in order to introduce Catholicism to the Salish Indians. After nearly ten years of successful proselytizing, a dispute between the Blackfeet and Salish Indians led to the Catholic Church’s destruction of the original mission. In 1866, the Church sent Father Ravalli to re-open the mission at a new location in Stevensville. Ravalli successfully led the Salish people back to the practice of Catholicism and introduced modern medicine to the community. Tragedy struck the mission again in 1891, when the Salish Indians were forcibly relocated by the federal government onto the Flathead Reservation in the Jocko Valley. This event ended the practice of Catholicism at the mission until the twentieth century. In 1921 the mission campus was re-opened and used until 1954 by the Catholic community in Stevensville. In 2010 the mission became a part of the National Register of Historic Places.  Today, St. Mary’s Mission is a tourist destination in Western Montana.

Historic St. Mary's Mission

The IOOF built the lodge (halls are also often referred to as lodges) in a vacant lot. The building that was there had burned down in 1905 and the lot remained vacant, allowing the IOOF erect the lodge. The facade features decorative brickwork including I.O.O.F at the top center. In the 1920s the first floor of the building was used a theater. It appears that the chapter adopted the name Garden Valley Lodge 1929. Then starting in 1949, the city then occupied the first floor, using it as city hall, a public library, and a fire station. Garden Valley sold the its interest in the building to maternal organization called Hope Rebecca Lodge No. 15 in 1955. Hope lodge did the same in 1978. The city finally moved out in 1985. Since then, various businesses have occupied the building.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows Hall building has been an important social and commercial landmark in Stevensville since it was built in 1912. The IOOF is a fraternal (male) organization founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1819. Generally speaking, its members work to improve society by providing in a variety of social services to the communities in which they are located. In Stevensville, members of the local chapter participated in these activities and gathered for meetings and other events on the second floor of the building; the first floor was leased for commercial use. For a time, the city occupied the first floor as well (see below). The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. 

Independent Order of Odd Fellows Hall 

Albert May and his four brothers arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in 1892 from Ontario, Canada. They settled in what would become Stevensville just a few years after a spur of the Bitterroot Valley Railroad reached the community. The brothers became successful businessmen and farmers. May bought the property on which the house stands in 1898 and it is possible that he built the house around a log cabin that was already there. By then he was married to his wife, Phoebe, with whom he had a daughter, Alberta; they also adopted a son. Unfortunately, the son died at a young age and his wife Pheobe passed away in 1905. May married again and adopted another son. In his later years, May suffered from mental illness beginning in 1914 and relocated to California where he died in 1917. Alberta sold the house to the next owner, Carrie E. Prince who later deeded it to her husband Dr. Frank Prince in 1920. Prince ran his practice from the house.

Built in 1898, the Albert May House is one of the best examples of Queen Ann architecture in the Bitterroot Valley. It was also the home Stevensville's first mayor, Albert May, who lived here from 1898 to 1909. The home features an elaborate wraparound porch with decorative brackets, a smaller porch in the back, scrollwork on the gable ends, stained glass, and clapboard siding. May, who operated successful sheep and cattle rancher with one of his brothers (they also operated a cherry orchard), was elected mayor in 1900. He also served on the board of trustees of a bank called First State Bank. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and remains a private residence today.

Albert May House

Education had humble beginnings in Stevensville. The first one was established in 1872 in the home of local resident, Henry Buck, and classes were held in the winter with 27 students. Other schools opened in the coming years. They eventually consolidated into the Stevensville Grade School and erected the original school in 1885, which designed in the Italianate style. By 1890, there were around 150 students at the school. There number of students increased to 325 in 1905, which prompted the construction of a two-room addition in 1906. Up until then classes were offered up to 8th grade but grades 9-12 were added by 1910.The school continued to grow and had to lease another school, which it eventually bought in 1913. A new elementary school was later built in 1923. The original school building was sold in 1926 to the Stevensville Women's Club, which sold it to the South Methodist Episcopal Church the next year. Then, as noted above, the church merged with North Episcopal Church in 1928, forming the Stevensville United Methodist Church.

Stevensville United Methodist Church is significant as both an architectural landmark and an influential religious and former educational institution. The building was originally a two-story school built in 1885 called the Stevensville Grade School, which was the first purpose-built school in the city. In 1928, the building became the Stevensville United Methodist Church when the North and South Episcopal Churches merged. The congregation remodeled the building, converting it into the city's best example of Classical Revival architecture. It features a large, two-story portico with Tuscan columns, a red-domed cupola, stained glass windows, and a circular window on the west gable end. The church continues to be a vibrant house of worship. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Stevensville United Methodist Church

William and Dudley Bass traveled to Montana from Missouri with a mule team. They tried mining in a place called the Adler Gulch, where gold had been found in 1863. After gold mining didn't work out, the brothers established a homestead—one of the first in the area—near what is now Stevensville. There they grew vegetables, hay, and grain, and eventually fruits and apple trees. Over the next few decades the fruit industry grew slowly. It wasn't until around 1900 that the demand for apples and other fruits increased significantly. By then, the brothers named their ranch the Pine Grove Fruit Farm and were shipping 10,000 boxes of apples to markets throughout the northern U.S., the Atlantic Coast, and even southern Canada. The brothers also raised livestock including sheep, cattle, and horses.Dudley bought his brother's interest in the company in 1901. He later sold the ranch in 1907 and hired Missoula architect A.J. Gibson to design the mansion. He only lived there for a short time before he passed away. His widow, Etta (they married in 1974), lived in the house until 1912 when their son Lee and his family moved in. The Bass family owned the old mansion until the 1960s.

The Bass Mansion is a historic home built by Dudley Bass in 1908. He and his brother William arrived in Montana in 1864 hoping to make it rich as gold miners but instead became highly successful fruit producers. Dudley built the mansion in the Neoclassical style, which gives it its stately appearance. The mansion's notable features include a two-story portico with six Ionic columns, a fan window in the pediment, and a semi-circular balcony above the main entrance. Inside, there is a grand u-shaped staircase, a dining room with a beamed ceiling and pocket doors, and decorative woodwork. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Bass Mansion remains a private residence today but is easily viewed from the street. A historical marker is located in front the house.



History of Stevensville Montana Walking Tour

Bitterroot Family Church

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information