Mountain View Methodist Episcopal is one of two landmark Methodist churches. Cornish miners built the Romanesque-style Trinity Methodist Church in 1889 in Walkerville.
Methodist mine owners, Uptown merchants, and professionals attended the Mountain View Methodist Church (1899-1900, Link and Donovan have been identified as architects) in the middle of Uptown’s bustling business district near the county courthouse. Butte Art Glass Company designed, built, and installed its wonderful stained glass. ...in 2012, both congregations obviously were struggling with members, and the cost of maintaining large historic buildings. They tried to get by by treating the two churches as part of the same congregation, but in 2015, the congregations closed the churches.
From Montana historical landscape.
The once regal bell steeple/bell tower for many years supported an ornate octagonal wood belfry and steeple. Today the tower stops at the top of the bricks, with a simple flat top. We have found a small reproduction of an old photo at the Butte-Silver Bow archives in which the church still wears its belfry and spire, date unknown. We've yet to find a discussion on their demise.
Closed as Mountain View United Methodist Church in 2015, the deconsecrated church is scheduled to become a concert venue due to the building’s supreme acoustics. See
this news article for details on the proposed acquisition of the church and creation of a concert facility. As of October, 2015 the
church was sold, the buyer's intention being to "bring a level of entertainment that will work..."
MOUNTAIN VIEW METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Rev. Hugh Duncan, a circuit-riding minister, led Butte's first Methodist Episcopal services in 1873. A dance hall, and later a school, served the early congregation. The first church built on this prominent corner in 1883 soon became overcrowded. Rev. W. W. Van Orsdel ("Brother Van"), along with church trustee copper king W. A. Clark, helped lay the cornerstone for this grand church in 1899. William L. Donovan and John G. Link were the architects. Link rose to prominence and later helped design the wings of Montana's state capitol. The church, completed in 1900, features a regal central tower with two arched entries. Magnificent stained glass richly embellishes the triple-arched windows on the south, north, and east. The sanctuary's semicircular arrangement and slanted floor, reminiscent of period opera houses, hosted some memorable community events. Famous speakers included social reformer Jacob Riis in 1906 and saloon-smasher Carrie Nation in 1910. Among Butte's eight Methodist churches, Mountain View was the "mine owners' church." Mountain View has hosted multiple choirs over the years, utilizing one of the most spectacular organs in the Pacific Northwest.
From the plaque at the church