St. Mary's Mission (Montana)
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St. Mary's Church and Pharmacy
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Side and rear of the church
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| Location | North Ave., Stevensville, Montana |
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| Coordinates | 46°30′29″N 114°5′43″W / 46.50806°N 114.09528°WCoordinates: 46°30′29″N 114°5′43″W / 46.50806°N 114.09528°W |
| Area | 2 acres (0.81 ha) |
| Built | 1866 |
| NRHP reference # | 70000364 |
| Added to NRHP | October 6, 1970 |
The Historic St. Mary’s Mission is a mission established by the Society of Jesus of the Catholic Church; located now on 4th street in modern-day Stevensville, Montana. Founded in 1841 and designed as an ongoing village for Catholic Salish Indians, St. Mary’s was the first permanent settlement made by European descendants in what became the state of Montana. The mission structure was rebuilt in 1866, with it being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The Salish came to know about the Jesuits from Catholic Iroquois fur trappers who settled among them either in 1811 or sometime after 1816. Especially Ignace (Big Ignace and also known as Old Ignace) aroused attention with his stories about the "Black Robes". Indian delegations reached St. Louis in 1831 and 1835, both in vain asking a priest to follow them back to the Salish country. Lakotas near Ash Hollow (Nebraska) killed a third group in 1837, including Ignace. Two Iroquois Indians met Father De Smet at Council Bluff in 1839 by chance, and in July 1840, he was greeted by more than 1,000 Salish and Pend d'Oreille Indians in Pierre's Hole. On September 24 the next year, he returned to the Salish. Accompanying him to the Bitterroot Valley were Fathers Gregory Mengarini and Nicholas Point as well as Brothers Joseph Specht, William Claessens and Charles Huett.
Carpenter Brother Claessens led the building of the church. As construction began under the supervision of Pierre-Jean De Smet, he described St. Mary's and the Salish workforce as follows:
The women hewed down the timber, assisted by their husbands, with the greatest alacrity and expedition, and in a few weeks we had constructed a log church, capable of holding 900 persons. To ornament the interior, the women placed mats of a species long grass, which were hung on the roof and sides of the church, and spread over the floor,-- it was then adorned with festoons formed of branches of cedar and pine.
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