Fromberg Methodist-Episcopal Church
The first Protestant services in the Clarks Fork Valley were held in 1897. The Reverend John G. Clark of Red Lodge officiated in a company boardinghouse tent at the nearby coal mining town of Gebo. By 1905, the growing congregation needed a more permanent location, and the thriving town of Fromberg was chosen as the logical site. On donated land, local contractor Charles Darnall began construction of Fromberg’s first church in April 1907. When Darnall abruptly left town, a force of volunteers completed the building in January 1908. By 1911, the new church was paid for, and a special service was held to burn the mortgage notes. A gabled roof, Gothic windows, and a steeple with square tower and open belfry furnish the clapboard building with an unpretentious elegance that reflects vernacular church designs of the era. In 1921-1922, a Craftsman style addition expanded the church. Paid for with funds raised by the Ladies’ Aid and built with volunteer labor, the new wing included an office, study room, and social room. The south room of the addition soon opened as a library, making the church’s book collection available to the public. Now the United Methodist Church, the building graces Fromberg’s streetscape, representing the collective efforts and community spirit of its pioneer congregation.
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