Wibaux in Wibaux County, Montana — The American West (Mountains)
St. Peter's Catholic Church
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, September 10, 2020
1. St. Peter's Catholic Church Marker
Inscription.
St. Peter's Catholic Church. . 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.
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.
59.258′ N, 104° 11.501′ W. Marker is in Wibaux, Montana, in Wibaux County. Marker is at the intersection of Orgain Avenue and C Street West, on the left when traveling west on Orgain Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 318 Orgain Avenue, Wibaux MT 59353, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, September 10, 2020
2. St. Peter's Catholic Church and Marker
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, September 10, 2020
3. St. Peter's Catholic Church
Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, September 10, 2020
4. St. Peter's Catholic Church Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on December 27, 2020. It was originally submitted on December 27, 2020, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California. This page has been viewed 149 times since then and 13 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on December 27, 2020, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
