Federated Methodist - 2/7 Schuelke
Stevensville, Montana
216 College St.
Organ installation timeframe: 1932 - 1964
 
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Entrance of Federated Methodist, c.1928
 
The Federated Methodist church opened in 1928 in the old Stevensville gradeschool building following an extensive remodel. The church was later renamed United Methodist.
 
According to Julie Weindel and Ben Longbottom, writing in the church's "Glad Tidings" newsletter (March 2019), the church started looking for a pipe organ in 1928 from the Hinners Pipe Organ Company in Illinois. Over the next year, Hinners gave bids ranging from $3000 to $1800. That was a lot of money at the time for a small church in Montana.
 

News item in Montana Standard, February 9, 1932
 
After two years of negotiating, the church decided they couldn't afford a new organ. Instead, in 1932 they bought a second-hand pipe organ from the owners of the Liberty Theatre in Hamilton for $1,000. That was still a lot of money for the church so they started the Stevensville Methodist Church Pipe Organ Company and sold shares in the company for one-dollar a share.
 

c.1930s
 
The organ's pipes were located in an alcove at the back of the alter. Ben Longbottom remembers that the pipes used to leak so his father had to go into the pipe room periodically and solder the pipes to fix the leaks. The pipe organ provided music every Sunday until 1964 when it was replaced by a Kimball electric organ. The Kimball organ was replaced by the current Allen organ in 1979.
 

Alter alcove that previously housed the organ pipes. 2019 photo, courtesy Julie Weindel.
 

News item in Montana Standard April 10, 1932. Note reference to the "American theater" in the first paragraph. This is most likely an error because there is no record of an American Theatre in Hamilton. This should be the Liberty Theatre, and is consistent with the prior February 9, 1932 article shown above. The Liberty was owned by L.H. Sutton and had a 2/7 Schuelke organ.