The church's Gothic Revival design is evident in the pinnacles and steeply pitched gables of the wooden belfry and spire, buttresses in the brick walls, lancet-arched windows and belfry vents and corbelled brick arches under the tower and transept cornices. Its post 1910 construction date is revealed by the fact that the church stands on a concrete foundation, as opposed to a stone foundation.
In 1958 this building began to house the Butte Unity Truth Center, a nondenominational Christian church.
Interestingly, the NRHP plaque indicates this church to be contributing to the "
Main Street Historic District", which doesn't seem to exist. To date we've found no other plaques referring to the
Main Street Historic District. It is, however, listed as contributing to the
Butte Anaconda Historic District.
EMANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
Immigrants to Butte during the mining boom often lived, socialized, and worshipped with fellow nationals. Swedish Lutherans first congregated in 1896, and in 1901 they built a small wooden chapel on the back of this lot. They quickly outgrew the building, which was a mattress factory when it burned in 1937. In 1912 the congregation, which kept its early records in Swedish, began construction of this brick church at a cost of $15,000. Modest compared to neighboring St. Mark's (a German Lutheran church), Emanuel Lutheran's most prominent feature is its octagonal spire, which rests on a wooden tower ornamented with pinnacles and projecting gables. The steep pitch of the gables, lancet-arched tracery windows, and diagonal buttresses capped with contrasting sandstone trim all mark the church's design as Gothic Revival. Butte Unity Truth Center, a nondenominational Christian church, purchased the building in 1958 when Emanuel Lutheran followed its congregants to the flats. By then Emanuel Lutheran no longer exclusively served Swedes; its days as an immigrant church-bringing comfort to worshippers far from home—were over.
From the plaque at the church