St. Peter's Catholic Church (Wibaux, Montana)

St. Peter's Catholic Church
Location W. Orgain Ave
Coordinates 46°59′14″N 104°11′28″W / 46.98722°N 104.19111°WCoordinates: 46°59′14″N 104°11′28″W / 46.98722°N 104.19111°W
Architect Nistler,L., Cummings & Blias
Architectural style Gothic revival
Governing body church
NRHP Reference # 90000356
Added to NRHP March 14, 1990[1]

St. Peter's Catholic Church is a National Registered Historic Place located in Wibaux, Montana. It was added to the Register on March 14, 1990.

Description

An inscription on the original stained glass window in the sacristy reads: "Through the generosity of Pierre Wibaux this church was dedicated to St. Peter in 1895."

The placard posted in front of the building reads:

Dismayed that his son’s adoptive home had no Catholic Church, Frenchman Achille Wibaux instructed Pierre to build one here. The rancher contributed $2,000 for the construction of this wood-frame, vernacular Gothic Revival structure. It was built in 1895 by R. R. Cummings and Eugene Blias of Glendive. The Wibaux congregation being at that time as a mission of Miles City, and Father Van der Broeck of Miles City superintended the church’s construction. In 1938, the church was enlarged and its exterior walls covered with scoria, a lava rock common to the badlands of the area. Father Leahy, pastor of the church beginning in 1931, conceived the idea of a scoria facing, and volunteers from the congregation went rock-picking in wagons and pickup trucks. Father Leahy recorded that “patient men did a beautiful job of laying the rock up to and on the steeple.” The building served as Wibaux’s Catholic Church until 1965, when a new church was built and this building was converted to a catechism school.

For the centennial celebration of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in 2004, a photo catalogue of parishes was published, containing the following comments about the old St. Peter's Church: "Bishop Jean-Baptiste Brondel of Helena consecrated St. Peter Church in Wibaux on October 31, 1895. ... In 1935, carpenters Lawrence Nistler and his sons, assisted by volunteer parishioners, doubled the size of the church and added a basement. ... J. Sylvain Wibaux, grandnephew of Pierre Wibaux, visited the church in 1957. ... On March 19, 1966, Mass was celebrated in the old church for the last time. ... As part of the parish's centennial observance in 1995, the sacristy in the old church was converted to a parish museum." [2]

Several years later the building ceased to be used for catechesis, and the nave and sanctuary have since been restored to their original form. Those who wish to visit the interior may contact the Wibaux Historical Society.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09.
  2. ↑ Larson, Kim. From Age to Age: A History of the Catholic Church in Eastern Montana. Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, 2004: 108