Plan emerges to turn landmark into arts center

Old Main, the 120-year-old building that once housed aging Civil War veterans at the Montana Veterans Home, could find new life as an intergenerational arts and cultural center.

Sherry Lewis-Peterson, director of Farming for the Future Academy, has set her sights on finding a way to renovate the brick building. The academy already operates a garden and small farm on the veterans home campus in Columbia Falls. Her idea is to offer a variety of year-round classes and programming in fine arts, performing arts, culinary arts and music as part of the academy.

Lewis-Peterson envisions veterans home residents attending the students’ performances in the spacious performance halls that could be created in the 13,864-square-foot building. Several local artists have pledged their support of such an endeavor. The natural lighting in the old building is wonderful, they say.

Ultimately, though, it’s money that separates dreams from reality.

The nonprofit Save Old Main Association spent a decade corralling enough money through a federal grant to put a new roof on Old Main and secure the windows in 2005. The idea was to “mothball” the building from further deterioration until it could be fully renovated. In hindsight it was a foresightful move.

Thoughts of full restoration have languished over the past 12 years, until Lewis-Peterson recently made her pitch to the Columbia Falls City Council during a public hearing on community needs.

City Manager Susan Nicosia said the city doesn’t have any money to help with the renovation, but could pursue a Community Development Block Grant facility planning grant for such a project.

The 58th Montana Legislature in 2002-2003 created funding authority for the Old Main project, of which $1.9 million remains in spending authority. Close to $300,000 was spent on the roof restoration and weather-proofing. In 2012 separate state funding paid $36,000 for asbestos abatement in Old Main and the adjacent boiler plant.

The state budget office currently is reviewing unused authorities, including the authority for Old Main, according to Jim Whaley, chief of design and construction for the Montana Architectural and Engineering Division within the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

“Assuming the authority was not reverted … the budget office has the ability to increase the authority for a project, providing it is within the legislative intent of the original authority,” Whaley said.

If the funding authority for Old Main no longer exists, the project would start at square one in re-establishing authority from the Legislature.

Rep. Zac Perry, D-Columbia Falls, said he supports the effort to breathe new life into Old Main.

“I think the project is a worthwhile endeavor,” he said. “It’s a great asset for the community … It’s a project I’m in full support of. I think it would be a win for the [veterans home] campus and the community.”

The cost of bringing Old Main back into “adaptive re-use” would be just over $2 million, Whaley estimated.

Montana Veterans Home Administrator Joren Underdahl said Old Main currently isn’t used in any capacity by the veterans home. Bringing it back into use would give residents an avenue to connect with the community.

“It was an idea that was all Sherry’s,” Underdahl said. “If she can raise the money it puts the old building into purposeful use.”

Montana was just seven years into statehood when its leaders decided a place was needed for Civil War veterans and other soldiers.

The fifth Montana Legislature approved construction of the veterans home on 160 acres overlooking the Flathead River near Columbia Falls. The brick structure was built by prominent Montana builder and politician Fred Whitesides at a cost of $9,800. The cornerstone, made of Butte copper and filled with artifacts that included a $100 Confederate note, was laid in 1896. Old Main opened in 1897.

Early news reports described the building as a pleasant hotel, “comfortably, even luxuriantly appareled.” It originally housed the kitchen, sleeping quarters, library and lounge for its earliest residents.

The building was last occupied in the late 1960s; after that it was used for storage for a time.

State architects declared Old Main sound and preservable not long after the Save Old Main Association formed in the early 1990s, giving the group the encouragement it needed to persevere.

Thick stone and heavy-duty joists in the basement reveal the sturdiness of the building. The fir floors are still tight upstairs and some original fireplace mantels, stairway railings and decorative tin ceilings are still preserved inside.

Bill Beck, a former Whitefish legislator, was the ramrod behind the roof restoration. And before that, it was veterans home resident Mary Felder who pushed for the restoration. Prior to Save Old Main Association’s intervention the state was contemplating the demolition of the building.

Though further restoration plans never materialized, many potential uses for Old Main have been suggested through the years, including a military museum or veterans health clinic.

In Lewis-Peterson’s mind, creating an intergenerational purpose for Old Main is the highest and best use. It would bring children, families and veterans under one roof to celebrate the arts.

“Our veterans need to be part of an extended family,” she said.

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