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 which served as a Grange Hall for many years in the small rural community of Swan River, Montana
Waymark Code: WM3N8G
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 04/23/2008
Views: 40
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
The hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002