Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church - Missoula, MT - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

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Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church - Missoula, MT

in This Old Church

Posted by:  T0SHEA

11T E 728601 N 5194417

This well disguised Orthodox Church is on the south side of Missoula, on the southwest corner of South Sixth Street and Hazel Street.

The reason this church looks nothing like typical Orthodox churches is that it was originally a Methodist Episcopal Church, built in the summer of 1909. The writer of the excerpt reprinted below, writing in 1910, indicated that the church was considering the construction of a new church "during the present Conference year". This seems strange, given that they had just built a good sized and substantial brick building. The First Methodist Episcopal Church was, however, indeed opened in 1911, on the north side of the river, at 300 East Main Street.

Another possibility is that this was the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which was active at the time in question. This congregation, mentioned in writings of the time, seems to have disappeared.

The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church bought the building in 1956 after a large fund raising effort extending to other Orthodox churches throughout the country.

The building itself is a fairly large brick structure standing on a stone foundation, which betrays its age, as after 1910 there were very few buildings set on stone foundations, with concrete taking taking over this job. With a gabled roof the church was built with a large bell tower with crenellated parapet. In places, expecially the chimney, the building is beginning to show its age, with a bit of deterioration and even a few bricks missing.

By MILLIE N. EDWARDS
The Missoula Charge was created by the Annual Conference held in Butte, Montana, September 10-13, 1908. Rev. G. H. Gibbs was appointed pastor at this time, and took up the work at once. After canvassing the field for several weeks he rented the chapel of the Gar-den City Commercial College and began holding public services October 18, 1908. He organized' a class of twenty-five members October 25, 1908.1 A Sunday School was organized November 22, 1908, with twenty-five persons present. The Woman 's Home Mission Society was organized with ten members in April, 1909. Five lots, located on the corner of South Sixth, West, and Hazel streets, were purchased, and a building erected on the rear of the same in the the summer of 1909.

This church at the present is entirely free of debt and has a membership of sixty-five and an enrollment in the Sunday School of about one hundred. The present enrollment of members in the Woman's Home Mission Society is seventeen. Rev. G. H. Gibbs is serving the third year as pastor. The pastor and members are planning to build a new church during the present Conference year.
From the Woman's Souvenir of Missoula-1910, Page 13