{"id":2139,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:40:13","latitude":46.98747094971400173335496219806373119354248046875,"longitude":-104.19162200437000365127460099756717681884765625,"title":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/b88443aabab29d999a10d51a5d1cffea.jpg","address":"West Orgain Avenue, Wibaux, Montana","all_locations":[],"zoom":17,"creator":["Montana National Register Sign Program"],"description":"Dismayed that his son’s adoptive home had no Catholic Church, Frenchman Achille Wibaux instructed Pierre to build one here. The rancher contributed $2,000 for the construction of this wood-frame, vernacular Gothic Revival structure. It was built in 1895 by R. R. Cummings and Eugene Blias of Glendive. The Wibaux congregation being at that time as a mission of Miles City, and Father Van der Broeck of Miles City superintended the church’s construction. In 1938, the church was enlarged and its exterior walls covered with scoria, a lava rock common to the badlands of the area. Father Leahy, pastor of the church beginning in 1931, conceived the idea of a scoria facing, and volunteers from the congregation went rock-picking in wagons and pickup trucks. Father Leahy recorded that “patient men did a beautiful job of laying the rock up to and on the steeple.” The building served as Wibaux’s Catholic Church until 1965, when a new church was built and this building was converted to a catechism school.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Private","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/acab80c8-7bd3-403e-9242-d324e22c95e8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read about St. Peter's Catholic Church</a>","<a href=\"https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/0cc6c581-1d17-4c1c-ac6f-c2941f2a9d2b/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">See photos of St. Peter's Catholic Church</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/b88443aabab29d999a10d51a5d1cffea.jpg":{"id":461,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church, West Orgain Avenue [2]","description":"1. St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church, West Orgain Avenue<br />\r\n2. Wibaux, MT<br />\r\n3. William A. Babcock, Jr<br />\r\n4. June 1987<br />\r\n5. Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Helena, MT<br />\r\n6. Southeast<br />\r\n7. 1<br />\r\n[verso]<br />\r\nb&amp;w print | Official records of the Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Helena, Montana | June 1987 | William A. Babcock, Jr","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/b88443aabab29d999a10d51a5d1cffea.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/1be5e6cfece837cb32313abb4cc85169.jpg":{"id":460,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church, West Orgain Avenue","description":"1. St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church, West Orgain Avenue <br />\r\n2. Wibaux, MT<br />\r\n3. William A. Babcock, Jr<br />\r\n4. June 1987<br />\r\n5. Montana State Historic Preservation Office Helena MT<br />\r\n6. South<br />\r\n7. 2<br />\r\n[verso]<br />\r\nb&amp;w print | Official records of the Montana State Historic Preservation Office, Helena, Montana | June 1987 | William A. Babcock, Jr","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/1be5e6cfece837cb32313abb4cc85169.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/0bb12a33e2717ab942fc8c6a9a9965c8.jpg":{"id":1051,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church","description":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church, facing south on Orgain Street, front view of building. | <a href=\"https://www.montanapictures.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MontanaPictures.net</a> | June 2007 | MontanaPictures.net","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/0bb12a33e2717ab942fc8c6a9a9965c8.jpg"},"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/fullsize/f0292260709652d8c2670c9e67c633d0.jpg":{"id":1058,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church","description":"St. Peter&#039;s Catholic Church, facing north from back lawn, rear/side view of building. | <a href=\"https://www.montanapictures.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MontanaPictures.net</a> | June 2007 | MontanaPictures.net","thumbnail":"https://mail.historicmt.org/files/square_thumbnails/f0292260709652d8c2670c9e67c633d0.jpg"}}}