First Congregational United Church of Christ (Billings, Montana)

First Congregational United Church of Christ, also known as Billings First Church, is an

History

Founding

American Home Missionary Society superintendents Delavin L. Leonard and Henry Clay Simmons visited Montana in 1882. In prior years, the Society had considered Montana too sparsely populated to justify missionary work, but access to the state was improving as the Utah and Northern Railway and Northern Pacific Railway extended their reaches. A church was established in Butte in April; the congregation would last 13 years before dissolving in 1895. In May, the Society established as second church, this one in Billings. At the time, Billings was a tent city with few permanent residents.^{[1]: 15−18 [2]: 30}

To establish a Billings church, the American Home Missionary Society sent Benjamin F. Shuart, a newly ordained minister from Ohio. Shuart rode a train to Miles City, then road his horse and buggy to Coulson. Upon staying at a hotel, he was warned that he would surely starve in Billings, and he would be wise to find mission prospects beyond the mountains. Upon arriving in Billings, Shuart found a town characterized by gambling, prostitution, and heavy drinking. Undeterred, Shuart found enough congregants to formally organize Billings' first church on May 24, 1882.^{[1]: 18–19}

1882–1950

For its first two months, the fledgling congregation met at various locations, including an unfinished saloon and a bakery.

In 1916, First Congregational chartered Boy Scout Troop 2. The troop eventually became the oldest scout troop in the state, celebrating its centennial anniversary in 2016.^[10][11]

The church added a Parish Wing, designed by McIver & Cohagen, on the north side of the building in 1927.^[12] The sanctuary was extended eastward, adding a balcony. Plans for further construction were laid aside because of the onset of the Great Depression.^[7]: 59

1950–present

When the church's membership swelled following World War II, an Education Wing was added to the rear of the building in 1951.^[7]: 61 Meanwhile, the congregation had long outgrown the original 1883 sanctuary. The old church was torn down in 1956 to make way for a new building designed by Orr Pickering Associates.^[13] Dedicated on November 3, 1957,^[14] this new building became known among Montana Congregationalists as the conference's de facto "cathedral church."^[2]: 154 Features retained from the old building included the 1889 Clinton H. Meneely bell and a stained glass window designed after a J. K. Ralston painting.^[13]

In 1960, First Congregational's burgeoning membership during the midcentury period necessitated the creation of a new church on Billings' west end. The new Mayflower Congregational Church initially met at Rocky Mountain College before completing its own dedicated building in 1962.^[1]: 154 The steeple from First Congregational's former building was moved to Mayflower to serve as a belltower. It remains as one of the oldest structures in Billings.^[9]

The Holtkamp Organ Company built a new 30-rank pipe organ for First Congregational in 1972,^[15] replacing an earlier M. P. Moller instrument. The organ was expanded to 44 ranks in 1982. With 2,326 pipes,^[16] it is the largest pipe organ in Montana.^[17]

In 1993, a brick was thrown through the window of the Schnitzer family of Billings, who had placed a menorah in their window. Montana Association of Churches executive director Margaret McDonald, a member of First Congregational, contacted minister Keith Torney with the idea of creating paper menorahs as a sign of solidarity. Members of First Congregational and other churches displayed the paper menorahs; soon after, the Billings Gazette printed a full-size menorah in its pages for readers to cut out for their own windows.^[18][19] This event was the impetus for the Not in Our Town project.

As of the 2020s, the church building is increasingly used for community initiatives and events. These include

Further reading

• Van West, Carroll (1993). "Searching for Stability, 1882–1883". Capitalism on the Frontier: Billings and the Yellowstone Valley in the Nineteenth Century. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 133–161.
  ISBN 9780803247550
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to First Congregational United Church of Christ (Billings, Montana).

• Official website