The first circuit-riding Methodist ministers, “the Lord’s Horsemen,” arrived in Montana in the 1870s to establish congregations among the territory’s early population. Settlers came to the Flathead when reservation lands opened to homesteading in 1910. An itinerant minister, Reverend Welch, held services in Ronan twice a month. In December 1910, the Ronan Methodist congregation purchased the land and members began building this Gothic style church; services were held five months later. The First Ladies Aid raised money for furnishings with numerous fundraisers including a colonial dinner, a Japanese tea, and a play at the opera house. When they ran out of ideas, the women challenged each other to earn a dollar and tell the group how she did it. They carpeted the aisle, bought lights, and paid the minister’s salary. The stained glass windows, installed in 1911, and the original ornately carved organ are part of their legacy. Construction of the annex enlarged the church in 1918 under Pastor W. I. Greer. During his tenure from 1929 to 1940, Reverend Joe “Little Joe” Ashworth saw the addition of the sidewalk, lawn, and bell tower. Today the charming simplicity of this sturdy homestead-era house of worship, the oldest continuously used Methodist church in Lake , symbolizes the faithfulness of early Methodism in the Mission Valley.
]]>Homebuilding across the country stopped completely during World War II as materials were diverted to the war effort. When residential construction resumed after the war, architects broke with past traditions and embraced modernism. One-story ranch houses, featuring low-pitched roofs, wide overhanging eaves, and asymmetrical façades became the most popular house type of the 1950s. Widespread automobile use led to new subdivisions with larger lots that allowed for maximum frontage along the streets. The modernist design of this house is reflected in its characteristic ribbon and picture windows, overlooking the Mission Mountains, along with its outdoor space, the partially enclosed patio that connects the homeowners to the outdoors. Local banker Don Olsson and his wife Mildred hired Mildred's brother, Thomas Balzhiser, a graduate of Montana State University, to design the stylish modernist home, one of the first ranch houses in Ronan. He went on to a prominent architectural career in Eugene, Oregon. He returned to Ronan to design the Harald Olsson House at 408 Eisenhower Street and, in 1970, the family-owned Community Bank building. For their 1950-51 house, the Olssons gave Balzhiser almost free range with the design, which includes a typical "Ranch style" open-space floor plan, built-in wardrobes and buffet, and a custom fireplace constructed of horizontally laid stone, quarried near Elmo. Two years after the Olssons moved into their new home, they commissioned Balzhiser to design the garage and, in 1954, the addition to the west. In 1960, they moved to a new Balzhiser-designed house located three miles south of Ronan.
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