HomeMy WebLinkAbout9 W Olive Register NominationMONTANA HISTORICAL/ARCHITECTURAL INVENTORY #13
HISTORIC NAME:
ADDRESS:
LEGAL BOUNDARY;
OWNER'S NAME:
OWNER ADDRESS:
SPECIFIC DATES:
ARCHITECT:
BUILDER:
ORIGINAL OWNER;
ORIGINAL USE:
PRESENT USE:
UTM REFERENCE:
ACREAGE:
U.S.G.S. QUAD:
St. James Episcopal Church
and Rectory
9 West Olive
Alderson's, Blk A, lots 7-10
St. James Parish
5 West Olive, Bozeman
1883, 1889
Church: George Hancock
Church: James S. Campbell
St. James Parish
church and rectory
church and rectory
12/497140/5058020
less than one
Bozeman, 1953
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Applicable Criteria: A and C
Areas of significance: social history, architecture
Number of Contributing Properties: 2
The St. James Episcopal Church and Rectory are significant for their association with the
early social history of Bozeman. The church is also significant as a fine example of
ecclesiastical architecture designed by the regionally important architect George Hancock
of Fargo, North Dakota, who had opened a branch office in Bozeman during the late 1880's.
The Episcopalian congregation was one of the first to gather in the young settlement of
Bozeman during the 1860's. Thirty-year-old Daniel Sylvester Tuttle became the Episcopalian
bishop assigned to Montana, Idaho, and Utah in 1867 and took five missionaries, one of
which came to Bozeman. In July of 1868, Bishop Tuttle held services in Bozeman in
Methodist Church on Main Street. In 1869, Tuttle mentioned in a letter that he had secured
a lot for the construction of an Episcopalian church in town. In 1876 the wood frame,
board and batten, St. James Church was completed. Bishop Tuttle, who visited annually from
his headquarters in Salt Lake City, wrote that "at Bozeman, Reverend Mr. Dickey is in an
absolutely new mission and is stated as doing excellently. He has a church built, having
done largely the work upon it himself.n
Construction began during the early 1880's on the large brick rectory, which was completed
in 1883 at a cost of $3400, on the two lots to the west of the frame church building. The
rector and his family had previously lived in a small house that stood just north of the
church. The date of construction of the rectory corresponds with the year of the arrival
of the Northern Pacific Railroad in Bozeman, and may reflect the new wealth of the church
congregation members resulting from it.
During the early years, the congregation made some wise land investments in Bozeman, the
profits from which would later be used as the nucleus of the building fund for the present
stone church. One early purchase involved five lots located at the corner Main and Church
Streets, which were noted in an account by Reverend Frank Bradley Lewis in which he said
the lots were bought from Mr. E.A. Rouse for $25 each, and sold after the railroad came in
1883 for $2500. The money was loaned at 12% until it was needed. At the start of
construction of the new stone church, the building fund had accrued $6100. The new, stone
St. James Episcopal Church would cost about $11,500.
The ground for the new church at the corner of Tracy and Olive was broken September 13,
1889. The plans were obtained from Mr. George Hancock of Fargo, North Dakota. Mr. James
S. Campbell served as the general contractor, and the stonework was let to Mr. Nathaniel
McConachie of Perham, Minnesota, sublet to the local firm of Craig and Freeman. On May 8,
1890, the cornerstone was laid. The bell, a gift from Mrs. W.J. Beall to the congregation
in 1883 that had been erected on a free standing platform in front of the original frame
church, was installed in the high, stone bell tower.
Services were held in the new church in October, 1890. A newspaper account of that time
stated: "The new church is of Gothic architecture, grey sandstone from Rock Canyon,
pointed with blue mortar. It is 80 feet long by 30 feet wide, with a copper cross whose
top is 80 feet from the sidewalk. Each of the main gables, which are 40 feet high, has
upon it a stone cross of beautiful design and fine workmanship. The inside finish of the
church is worthy of the outside. The wings are cathedral glass, with opalescent pieces
dispersed through them. The colors of the glass are not strong, but soft and well blended.
The roof is supported by trusses bolted together. The panels between trusses and purlin
plates are finished with selected Norway pine, all inside work is finished in oil and
natural colors. The side walls and gables are plastered. The furniture is of solid oak."
In 1939 the church interior was refurbished, which generally included refinishing and
recarpeting. In 1944, renovation of the vestibule took place, and new doors were
installed. In 1913, a new Estes organ was installed, which replaced the old 1890 organ.
The stone addition to the northwest corner of the church, called the Chapel of the
Resurrection, was built in large measure by the men of the church. The chapel was designed
by Ms. Dorothy Miller of Bozeman, who also executed the carvings and paintings found within
the building. It was consecrated on November 30, 1940.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
The St. James Episcopal Church has a cruciform plan with a bell tower at the southeast
corner and an arched entrance at the base of the tower. The main doorway is composed of a
pair of 8-panel doors with wooden infill above in the Gothic arch opening. Windows are
fixed stained glass, with plexiglass storms, set in Gothic arched openings along the east
and west elevations and in a rose window in the center of the gable end of the main (south)
facade. Stone butresses are set between each set of windows on the east and west
elevations. There are tall arched openings in the bell tower. The bearing wall
construction is finished in cut sandstone and rests on a cut stone foundation. Sandstone
coping was used on the gable wall ends and the steeply pitched gable roof is covered with
grey asphalt shingles. Black shingles were used on the witch's cap bell tower roof. The
axis of the main roof parallels So. Tracy Ave. In 1940 a chapel of cut stone was built
onto the northwest corner of the church. The chapel is one-story and has Gothic arched,
leaded clear glass windows. The north wall of the chapel, facing the alley, is finished in
brick. The chapel is of compatible design and materials and does not detract from the
historic architectural integrity of the 1889 church building.
The rectory, located on the adjoining lot to the west of the church, predates the stone
church by approximately six years. This detached one-and-one-half-story, single family,
brick residence has an irregular shape and a half-hexagonal bay window on the front (south)
facade. The tri-gable, sidehall plan house was originally built in a transitional
Italianate/Queen Anne style, with two small porches, one at the front and the other at the
east ell, and Italianate style cornice abov« the bay window. The building was remodeled
ca. 1930, and the early decorative features vere removed and replaced by simple, Colonial
Revival detailing. The entire building was covered in stucco at this time. The small
porches were removed and Colonial Revival door surrounds were installed. Windows are four-
over-six and nine-over-one double hung units, with arched decorative trim above. The gable
roof is covered with brown asphalt shingles and features overhanging eaves, as well as two
brick chimneys, one covered with stucco. A brick and frame, garage/apartment addition to
the rear (north) of the rectory, while non-contributing, does not seriously detract from
the overall historic architectural integrity of the rectory, which, despite the 1930's
remodelling, still possesses historic design characteristics that serve to recall its
original and present use in association with the church.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"Eighty Years: 1868-1948, St. James Episcopal Church, Bozeman, MT., Eightieth Anniversary
Committee, published by the church, 1948, pp. 23-24.
Fred Willson Job List: 1943, Job # 4333, Alteration to sanctuary, Episcopal Church,
Bozeman.
Avant Courier. June 12, 1883
Bozeman Chronicle. April 31, 1983
FORM PREPARED .BY: James R. McDonald, P.C. (1983-84); Matthew Cohen (1985-86 revision);
Patricia Bick (1987 revision), State Historic Preservation Office, 225 No. Roberts, Helena,
Montana 59620 (406) 444-7715
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