Episcopal parishes consider merging: Whitefish, Columbia Falls congregations vote on proposal March 12

By LYNNETTE HINTZE

The Daily Inter Lake

A historic Whitefish church may be leaving town.

Preliminary plans are in the works to merge Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in Whitefish and St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Columbia Falls and build a new church halfway between the two North Valley cities. The project also may include physically moving the Whitefish church to the rural site.

But nothing has been decided yet, said Mary Haase, senior warden of Holy Nativity. Both parishes are scheduled to vote on the project March 12. If that's a green light, the project then leaps to the next hurdle, a public hearing March 16 before the Whitefish City-County Planning Board. The Whitefish City Council has the final say April 3.

The parishes need a conditional-use permit to build on a prospective 10-acre site in the Staats Subdivision on the west side of Conn Road near the intersection with Montana 40. The property has country residential zoning.

"This is not a given," Haase said about the proposal. "It's all contingent on getting the zoning and the property."

The application filed with the Whitefish Planning and Building Department indicates an 8,000-square-foot new church structure. It also mentions moving the existing Whitefish church and an adjacent building on East Second Street.

If the project moves forward, it's likely the Columbia Falls church on Fourth Avenue West would be sold.

The Holy Nativity congregation, with an average Sunday attendance of 85 to 110 people, has outgrown its facility, Haase said. The Columbia Falls congregation is much smaller, with Sunday attendance of about 25 to 30. The two parishes are served by an interim rector, the Rev. Bradley Wirth.

BOTH CHURCHES are historic buildings.

Holy Nativity was built in 1917 in Whitefish and St. Matthew's came on the scene in Columbia Falls in 1915.

The Episcopal Church arrived in the Flathead Valley much earlier than that, however. In Whitefish, the church informally established itself in about 1905, just as the town was being built, according to "Stump Town to Ski Town." Early records of the church were lost by water damage in the church basement, but it is known that the first recorded Episcopal service in Whitefish was Lucy White's baptism on May 8, 1907.

Services were held in various places around Whitefish until the church was built in 1917. Originally called Trinity Episcopal Church, it was renamed Holy Nativity in 1954.

It is a scenic landmark on Whitefish's west side. The church's quaint, small-town look attracted the attention of a Hollywood movie producer a few years ago, when a scene from "Heaven's Pond" was filmed at Holy Nativity.

An Episcopal mission was organized in Columbia Falls in 1901. Like the Whitefish congregation, the Columbia Falls Episcopalians met in various buildings around town until a new church could be afforded. James A. Talbott, one of Columbia Falls' founders, set aside lots for the new church in the townsite and started a building fund, according to a history of the church written by Frances Ehrig Robinson in 1960. The land was transferred to an Episcopal bishop for $1.

In 1915, Talbott's son-in-law imported a machine for making masonry blocks and constructed the church.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.