Flathead County MTGenWeb Project

Gayle Collins, Site Coordinator

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The Story of the Spring Creek Christian Church

FLATHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA

© 2000 by Donnell R. Wisniewski. All rights reserved.

 

On Nov. 11, 1898 there arrived a board a GN train party of 49 Made up of people from Iowa, looking for new horizons in the west. All of one mind Christians from Iowa, there was no Christian church in the town altho we soon learned that several already citizens of Kalispell leaned that way. Several faiths invited us to join with them but several were of the opinion that time would tell what the majority wanted so arrangements were made with the City Fathers that, the court house could be used as a meeting house for a small rental to provide for Janitor Service. After a few meetings it was decided to join the Baptist Church and that soon cooled and the bulk of the crowd moved to Spring Creek neighborhood then being refused use of the Methodist Church decided to build one of their own. About 1900

 

So the good women of the crowd took charge of teams and wagons and headed for the saw mills and brought lumber for the Church was built and an acre of ground donated by …. Willis and Joe Hammon. (1/2 Acre each) on the End west and approximately 1 mile south of the Methodist church.

 

After a year or two they came to the conclusion that two churches would fare better united in one place and the decision was to carry on in town rather than 6 miles in the country and together they could probably support a Pastor and build a church on the corner of 2nd East and 5th St.

 

So the people went to town to church in town and after while they decided to sell the Spring Creek Church and JWRedlingshafer made a deal for the building and would move it to his farm ½ mile west of where it was built.

 

Not having a moving aparatus, and being able to move the building about 10 yds in 2 days JWR decided that the lumber would be more good to him and so he dismantled it and hauled the lumber to his farm and built a grainery and a wagon shed along his newly built barn (Later the grainery was moved to a spot across the hiway from the main buildings and converted into a dwelling in which our 3rd son was born Jan. 12, 1917).

 

So ends the story of Spring Creek Christian Church. Church was then a building on 2nd Ave east and 7th street in Kalispell. Until about 1905 (approx.) when the new building was built on the corner of 2nd Ave E and 5th St just north of the Library.

 

The leaders in the church in Spring Creek were
Mr & Mrs JW. Redlingshafer, and family of 5 children
Mr & Mrs Dan Rummel (Dan), and family of 2 boys
Mr & Mrs Hob Iseminger, and family of 3 boys
Mr & Mrs John Sweet, and family of 2 boys girl
Mr & Mrs Lafe Sweet, and family of 4 children
Mr & Mrs Styles, and family of 2 girls & 1 boy
Mr & Mrs James Willis, and family of 2 girls 1 boy
Mr & Mrs Joe Hammon, and family of 1 boy
Mr & Mrs Bert Bondurant, and family of 13 children
Mr & Mrs Lee, and family of 1 girl
The Young family – of 4 boys and 2 girls
The oldest son of Paul & Eva was married in the Church in Kalispell in 1938.

 

Note: originally written by Eva Redlingshafer and transcribed with spelling and grammar intact by Donnell R. Wisniewski, September 2000.