Five Sisters of Charity came to Butte from their motherhouse at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1881 to found St. James Hospital. The sisters opened a school of nursing in 1906. Under Sister Superior Mary Marcella Reilly, this residential dormitory for students and nurses was built in 1917 to meet the latest standards required for school accreditation. Adjacent to the original hospital, the L-shaped brick-and-tile building cost $46,000. The residence offered students a library and laboratories as well as comfortable living accommodations. For more than six decades, the St. James School of Nursing was renowned for its topnotch graduates. Sensitive renovation in the 1990s converted this dormitory into a medical clinic, with dorm rooms becoming examination rooms. Original exterior details, including the handsome leaded glass and copper awning with its cross above the entry, are reminders of the contributions made by the benevolent Catholic sisters to medicine and education in Butte. The building is an integral part of the Catholic Diocese complex surrounding the historic St. Patrick’s Church.
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