CHURCH HISTORIEs

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

The First Presbyterian Church of Boulder is entitled to a place among the pioneer churches of Montana, because of the fact that regular preaching was begun as long ago as 1881, when the county seat was but a very small village and existed chiefly as a junction on the famous old stage lines managed by Gilmer, Salsbury and Co.  The overland stages from Salt Lake City here met the coaches from the new and promising camp of Butte and carried their passengers on to Helena, the capital.

Rev. T. N. Todd was then the pastor of the church at Wickes and was able to give one Sunday a month to this place, but simply as a missionary enterprise, never thinking that it was possible that a church should be formed here, so limited was the population.  Subsequently it became the county seat, on account principally of its central location, and for that reason it began to build up.  In about 1885, A. S. Kellogg and V. A. Cook with their families removed from Wickes to this place and added so much strength to this mission that it was thought wise to organize a church.  Rev. L. E. Hanna who was at this time supplying the church at Wickes, consulted with Rev. E. P. Linnell of Miles City, who was acting as Presbyterial Missionary and together they counseled with the little band of 13 Christians with the result that upon December 27, 1885, the First Presbyterian Church of Boulder was organized, with Thomas Hall, formerly of the M. E. Church, South, and A. S. Kellogg, former elder of the Wickes church, as elders of this new organization.

No growth was made in the church for about two years, for while these were the palmiest days of Boulder there was so much zeal manifested in the organization of all denominations that several of the members were dismissed to form these new bodies; but in November of the year 1886, the writer, Rev. T. A. Wickes, and family located at Boulder.  In the meantime Mr. Hanna had resigned his field in Wickes and his place was supplied by Rev. Jesse C. Wilson, who labored only six months at these two places and was the last minister for these two churches to reside in Wickes, owing to the fact that that camp was rapidly being depopulated.  After this the writer, who was engaged in business which took him away from home much of the time, supplied the pulpit in Boulder occassionally, expecting that a man would be found ere long to supply both fields again.  It was soon found, however, that unless some vigorous work was done the Boulder church would disintegrate and be absorbed and it became simply a question of the survival of the fittest.

A special meeting of the members was held at the house of V. A. Cook and after a general discussion it was enthusiastically determined to go forward with the full purpose to succeed.  The writer made an offer that he would act as pastor of the church on condition that he should receive a salary of $600 a year, and this he would place in the bank to be used as a building fund.  It was decided to organize a ladies' society for the temporal aid of the church, a denomination Sunday-school and also a weekly prayer meeting.  This was done and they have continued in force to the present day.  This was really the active birthday of the church.  A thriving Sunday-school, a spiritual prayer meeting, and a very active ladies' aid society under the direction of the acting pastor, soon resulted in much good.  A lot was bought, and a building fund started which was materially strengthened by the addition of the pastor's monthly salary of $50.  In five years from this time a church and bell costing $8,000 was dedicated free of debt, a membership of about 50 was enrolled, with a Sunday-school of about 100.  The writer then resigned, feeling that it was no longer necessary to tax his feeble strength to carry the work and the people called the Rev. J. F. Lynn, who was afterwards installed and remained with the church about five years, leaving the church on account of broken health and dying about a year after.

Rev. C. Howard Grube followed and served the church about the same length of time.  During his term of labor with this people, the church celebrated its Fifteenth Anniversary, the writer by request delivering the historical address.  In 1902 Mr. Grube resigned and removed to South Dakota but his place was soon filled by Rev. S. B. McClelland who was installed as pastor and remained with this people until the fall of 1905.  After an interim of three months, Rev. A. P. Haydon accepted a call from the church and supplied the pulpit until the end of the year 1906.

In every case when the pulpit was vacated the writer was invited to take charge of the work, which he did except in the last instance, so that the church was never without a supply from the time of its organization.  It should be noted further, that before the writer resigned his first charge the church secured a manse valued at $1,000.

After Rev. Mr. Lynn's pastorate all the succeeding ministers labored under the difficulties that so often occur in our western towns, that of a steady decline in the population of the community.  The people have been gradually moving away for years.  The Baptist and Methodist churches both withdrew from the town and the others have continually lost from their roll of membership by removals from the town, so that the membership at the present time is not much more than half what it was at one time.  This has been discouraging to both people and pastor.

In connection with this work Mr. Lynn began work at Basin which resulted under his labors in the organization of a church there in 1894, which has ever since been joined with the Boulder church under the same pastorate.  The Boulder church elected to the eldership during its history, Thomas Hall, A. S. Kellogg, V. A. Cook, Henry Dildine, Dr. E. I. Fletcher, J. A. Rightenour, J. H. Murphy and W. W. Wickes.  The first name was dismissed to the M. E. Church.  Elders Cook, Kellogg and Dildine have died; elders Rightenour, Fletcher and Wickes have moved away, leaving elder J. H. Murphy still serving the church.

There have been ninety enrolled in the membership of the church, of these 47 have been added on profession of faith and 43 by letter.

There are some features in the history of this church that are of interest: Except in the three months, interim between the departure of Mr. McClelland and the coming of Mr. Haydon, the pulpit has never been vacant.  The church has sustained an exceptionally good choir during all these years; it has had also one of the most interesting and liberally contributing Ladies' Aid Societies in the state, and all the contributions to the various Boards of the church have been above the average.  And while the church has not grown stronger with its years, it has sent many consecrated workers out into all parts of the state to continue the work which they so well learned to do here.

Source: Transcription from the book, The Pioneer Work of the Presbyterian Church in Montana, edited by Rev. George Edwards, published in 1907; located on the website, Hathitrust Digital Library (http://www.hathitrust.org), accessed 12 June 2022.

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