Historically, the site included the Mission Church, built in 1937, a Boy's and Girl's Dormitory, a bakery, a mill, two barns, four shingled wooden outbuildings, and a cemetery. Today, only the Mission Church, one barn, and the cemetery remain. The buildings were part of the turn-of-the-century white acculturation process in which Native American children were placed in a structured, industrial-like environment then they could be more easily molded into “farmers.” It didn’t work the way the missionaries foresaw and in the 1940s the mission was closed. The old mission is now part of the reservation’s heritage tourism effort.
Built of light coloured brick of various shades, the Romanesque Revival styled church has six bays down the side of the sanctuary, separated by brick buttresses, with five stained glass windows on each side. At the front is a prominent centered steeple and bell tower, of the same brick as the sanctuary. Centered in the steeple are double entry doors with a filled Romanesque transom, with a smaller Romanesque window above and, further above, the open bell tower. All openings in the building have Romanesque heads. At the southeast corner of the building is a grey granite cornerstone inscribed
1937.
While the mission was closed around 80 years ago the church, still in excellent condition, continues to hold irregular services, though it doesn't have a resident pastor. It is also available to rent for occasions such as weddings, funerals and family reunions.
At the entrance to the grounds is
Blackfeet Nation Historical Marker #13, which reads as follows:
HOLY FAMILY MISSION
A Catholic mission boarding school begun in 1889, it was the first institution on the reservation to offer Blackfeet children an education. The mission played a role in the religious and community development in the early years of reservation life. The mission was closed in the early 1940s.
Mission Church
Built in 1937 with funds from the Marquette League specifically earmarked for chapel construction. One story, blonde brick building on concrete foundation with wood-shingled roof. Exterior buttressing. Pyramidal roofed belfry above central entrance. Arched windows with fixed, single pane, textured glass and wooden pull-outs at bottom for ventilation. Rossette window above alter. Building in excellent condition.
From the NRHP Nomination Form
Holy Family Mission
The photo to the left depicts the mission as it was in 1964 and under flood. Today the sole remaining building is the 1937 church at the centre right.
The years from 1850-1900 saw the almost complete destruction of the Indian world through successive small pox epidemics, liquor trading, military conquest, the disappearance of the buffalo and subsequent starvation. The complementary objectives of government policy and religious missionary principles during the later part of the 19th Century allowed for the establishment of the Holy Family Mission. The Peace Policy of Ulysses S. Grant and the General Allotment Act of 1887 were designed to create an agricultural economic base among the Indians to replace the no longer viable nomadic way of life.
Founded in 1886, Holy Family Mission served for 53 years as the center of the Catholic faith and Federal/philanthropic Indian policy on the Blackfeet Reservation and remains a significant complex of buildings which represent the early "Christianizing and civilizing" philosophy of the mission school movement. Located on the banks of the Two Medicine River, nestled beneath sandstone cliffs where the Blackfeet once ran buffalo, the site for the Holy Family Mission was chosen for its proximity to the tribal population center, its agricultural potential, and its aesthetic appeal.
Located well within the then shrunken boundaries of the Blackfeet Reservation, Holy Family Mission in 1886 consisted of a residence and a small log chapel. In 1887, Chief White Calf, who had been baptized by an earlier itinerant priest, donated the land for a school. IN 1890, Holy Family Mission officially opened the doors of its new 2½ story wood frame school and dormitory building and Father Damiani and three Ursuline Sisters launched the Catholic Church's most impressive experiment designed to civilize and Christianize Blackfeet children. By 1892, over 100 Blackfeet children resided at the Mission which was set up to displace and replace the functions performed by the traditional home. Although parents were allowed to visit, children under 11 years of age were kept at the Mission for 11 months of the year and the older children were kept year round, until 1919 when no summer residents were recorded.
In accordance with the Catholic school philosophy, male and female students were kept strictly separated at the Mission. In 1895 the large sandstone boys' dormitory was constructed. When the original wood frame classroom/dormitory building burned down in 1898, a new sandstone girls' dormitory was erected on the site.
Throughout its existence, Holy Family Mission was plagued by financial difficulties. After 1900, the federal government opened another Indian boarding school in Cut Bank and subsequent federal aid to Holy Family was sporadic and indirect. The Mission's main sources of financial aid were Mother Katherine Drexel of a wealthy and prominent Philadelphia family, the Catholic Indian Mission Bureau, the Marquette League, personal donations from the bishops of Helena and other friends of the Mission, and the Blackfeet tribe itself. Despite support from these public and private sources, the Mission was only able to make the most necessary repairs and the buildings gradually began to deteriorate. With the arrivalof Father Ignatius Dumbeck, S.J. in 1929, a major repair program was launched. Barns were replaced, building repaired, and a new water system installed. However, the 1930's also saw severe hailstorms, floods, blizzards and continuing financial problems. The Blackfeet Tribal Council withdrew its support of the Mission in 1939 and the school closed the next fall with debts amounting to $74,117.02 and cash on hand totalinq $21.71.
From the NRHP Nomination Form