Swan River Community Hall - Swan River, Montana
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 48° 05.704 W 114° 01.741
11U E 721203 N 5331136
Community center for the small rural community of Swan River, Montana
Waymark Code: WM26TX
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 09/13/2007
Views: 4
Swan River Community Hall
"In 1920, the local Rod and Gun Club purchased this acre of land as the site
for a community building. Constructed twelve years later, the Swan River
Community Hall has served as a locus for valley residents, who gathered here for
school functions, card parties, plays, dances, weddings, and funerals. The
Grange and Farmers Union met at the facility for years, and roller-skating was
an important social activity during the 1950s and 1960s. As one resident
recalled, "If we didn't go to the Hall every week, something was wrong."
Local builder, Joe Johnson designed the building, which is made of timber from
surrounding state lands and salvaged from abandoned mills. Most of the
other building materials were donated, often in lieu of membership fees.
Plays and dances also financed the project. The first fundraising play was
preformed at the school across the road in 1931, and the first dance was an
open-air affair held on the Hall's new birch floor the following summer.
The thirty-six-by-sixty-foot structure was completed in 1933. By 1945, an
entry hall and two small rooms had been added to the front of the building.
The exposed rafter tails, milled trim, lap siding, and shingled gable ends of
the addition match those of the original Craftsman design. After a fire
burned the rear of the Hall in 1976, the Board considered abandoning it, but an
outpouring of support led them to restore the structure. The Hall continues to
serve as an important gathering place for this rural Montana community." ~ text
of marker on site