First Christian Church
Miles City East Main Street Residential Historic District
Accompanied by popular singing evangelist C. M. Ridenour of Fort Benton, J. S. Raum preached the Christian Church’s first service in Miles City in 1910. Forty-four people attended. Early church membership was diverse, including a successful attorney, railroad workers, and their families. Eight ministers served the church in its first seven years, when services were held in a building on the corner of Pearl and South Center. In 1917, the congregation purchased lots on Main and Lake, but World War I delayed construction. Years of drought and depressed commodity prices defined the 1920s, hurting the community and by extension the congregation. The one-story, Craftsman style church, designed by Brynjulf Rivenes, Miles City’s most prominent architect, was finally built in 1928. The balanced, but simple, design features nesting gables and an arched entrance, accented with red brick tile. Bruce Bergeson constructed the 1955 rear addition. The building has housed businesses since the congregation sold it in 2001, but some reminders of its original function remain, including a pew, the baptismal font now covered, and the buzzer that called Sunday School children to the service.