Montana Historical and Architectural Inventory (Site # 049)

Address:	124 W. Broadway
Ownership Name:	Roman Catholic Bishop, Diocese of Great Falls & Billings
Historic Name:	St. Leo’s Catholic Church
Common Name:	St. Leo’s Catholic Church
Date of Construction:	1915
Architect:	Link & Haire
Builder:	Stanton & Smith – Lewistown
Original Owner:	Catholic Diocese
Original Use:	Church
Present Use:	Church

Physical Description:

This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A very large common-bond brick parish church that follows a formal and traditional crucifix floor plan. A campanile, barrel vaulted nave, transepts, apse, and accessory spaces in the "chevet" are all present. Details include numerous rose windows, elaborate use of arcaded corbel tables, gablets on pilastered buttresses, highly ornate brackets, terra cotta ornamentation with heraldic cartouches, and decorative brickwork (around openings and in the field of the front wall). The use of the round arch is evident everywhere: around individual openings, at arcaded windows, at corbel tables, and in a venetian (compound) window grouping near the apse at the southwest elevation. Roofing is composition shingle; fascia, overhang, and sculpted rafters are wood; the substructure is concrete. The elaborate brackets are reflective of Italian influences; the twin spires in lieu of a central spire or lantern over the transept crossing is reflective of German Romanesque massing.

Historical Significance:

St. Leo’s Catholic Church of Lewistown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lewistown was thriving when the new St. Leo’s Catholic Church was built in 1915. Land promotions by railroads, state and local organizations drew thousands of homesteaders to the area, and Lewistown served the needs of the newcomers with an equally fast growing business, industrial, educational, health, government, religious and social complex.

The local firm of Stanton & Smith was awarded the general contract for construction of the church with a bid of $45,787 on July 14, 1915. Construction proceeded rapidly, with E. J. Bryan of Link & Haire as superintendent, under the watchful eye of Father Van der Broeck.

The "Brooks Island" site, formed by the meandering Spring Creek, was feared to be too swampy at first by the architects, but by October the reinforced concrete portion was completed and the full basement was nearly excavated. The Lewistown Brick & Tile Company, incorporated in 1911, produced the dark red vitreous brick for the new church.

On Sunday, October 15, 1916 the first service was held in the new St. Leo’s Church. Bishop Mathias Lenihon of Great Falls dedicated the edifice on Sunday, November 12, 1916. The church basement served as a grade school from 1916 until the grade school was built in 1938. Some basement classrooms were used through 1960 when the new high school building was ready for occupancy.

Integrity:

Original construction; a handicapped ramp has been added adjacent to the front entry. The church occupies its original site and is an excellent example of a Revival "High Style" structure executed with local masonry.