The story of St. Mary's Mission begins in 1823, when twelve Iroquois, employed as trappers by the Hudson's Bay Company, remained with the Salish through the winter of 1823-24. Exposed to Christianity 200 years previous, they told the Salish stories of Christianity and of the "Black Robes", the missionaries who taught them. The Salish proved to be an interested audience and, between 1831 and 1839 they sent four delegations to St. Louis in an attempt to obtain a Black Robe of their own.
On September 24, 1841, Father Pierre Jean DeSmet, together with his fellow Jesuit missionaries, Fathers Gregory Mengarini and Nicolas Point, and three Lay Brothers arrived in the Bitterroot valley with their belongings and supplies in three carts and a wagon, the first vehicles to enter the area. They established the first white settlement in what was to become Montana, on the east bank of the Bitterroot river, immediately west of the present town of Stevensville.
The fathers built two chapels, residences and outbuildings, and began farming, planting wheat, oats, potatoes and garden crops. From Fort Vancouver they brought into Montana the first cattle, swine and poultry. A third chapel was under construction by 1846 but soon trouble with the Blackfeet forced the closure of the mission, the entirety being sold in November 1850 to John Owen, a former army sutler, for $250.00.
It was sixteen years later (1866) when Father Joseph Giorda, Superior for the Rocky Mountain area, called back Father Ravalli and Brother William Claessens and re-established St. Mary's Mission about a mile south of Fort Owen. Brother Claessens built a little chapel, the fourth he had built for St. Mary's, to which he attached a study, dining room, kitchen and a story and a half barn. Father Giorda made the "new" St. Mary's the Jesuit mission headquarters for the Rocky Mountain province. In 1879 an addition to the front of the building doubled the size of the chapel. (The entire Mission complex has been restored to that date - the peak of its beauty.)<
The mission served the Salish people until their forced removal in 1891, during that time teaching them methods of farming and gardening to aid in their survival following the demise of the buffalo.
Italicized sections above are from
St. Mary's Mission, Inc.
175 years after the establishment of the first mission, the mission held a commemorative event to mark the coming of the "Black Robes" to the Bitter Root Valley. The Missoulian was there to report on the event. The beginning of the article follows.
St. Mary’s Mission to celebrate
175th anniversary of arrival of Black Robes
PERRY BACKUS | Sep 11, 2016
STEVENSVILLE – In 1941, the Historic St. Mary’s Mission celebrated the 100th anniversary of the day the missionaries arrived in the Bitterroot Valley in response to repeated requests by Salish tribal leaders.
Close to 8,000 people came to experience the Founder’s Day celebration back then.
On Sept. 24, the mission will host the 175th anniversary commemoration of that event.
While Historic St. Mary’s Mission Director Colleen Meyer isn’t expecting quite that large of a crowd, she’s certain that those who do come will enjoy the expanded program and the varied demonstrations that volunteers will offer that day.
“We do encourage families to come,” Meyer said. “There will be a lot of fun and interactive things for people to do. All of our staff will be in heritage dress, which will be very colorful. We invite anyone to dress in period costumes. It will add to the festivities.”
The year’s Founders Day celebration is themed “Friendships and Relationships.”
It’s fitting considering the history that’s observed that day.
“Through my research I find it very rare that an American Indian tribe invited white men onto their lands,” Meyer said. “Yet four arduous trips were made to St. Louis by the Salish Indians seeking the Black Robe missionaries to bring the Christian teachings to their people. This powerful story will be told in a re-enactment at St. Mary's Mission on Sept. 24 during our 175th Founders Day Commemoration.”
The Founders Day celebration will also mark a first for the Bitterroot Valley.
The Montana Historical Society is holding its annual convention in Hamilton that same week. It’s the first time the convention has been held in Ravalli County.
From The Missoulian