Helena’s oldest continuously operating church
St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral has a unique history dating back to 1867, when Montana was still a territory. That year, Daniel Sylvester Tuttle was consecrated as the Bishop of the Territories of Montana, Idaho, and Utah and settled with his family in Helena, a rough-and-tumble gold-mining town in need of religious community.
Tuttle soon formed the St. Peter’s Mission and, the next year, bought the lot on the southwest corner of Grand Street and Warren for $1200. The foundation for a Gothic-style stone building was laid in 1878, and the building was completed in 1879, when St. Peter’s Parish was organized and the first services were held later that year.
St. Peter’s Hospital was incorporated in 1884 to meet Helena’s growing healthcare needs, and the cornerstone of that property was laid in 1887.
In 1930, the Park Avenue lot on which St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral now stands was purchased for the construction of a new church, completed in 1932 in time for Lent and Easter services.
Our cathedral’s beginnings
St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral was designed in 1930-31 by Spokane architect Harold C. Whitehouse of Whitehouse and Price, which had a large portfolio of ecclesiastical works across Montana, Idaho, and Washington at the time.
Whitehouse was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1959.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Cathedral is one of Montana’s finest examples of the Arts and Crafts style, which originated in Great Britain in the 1880s. It embodies Arts and Crafts style values: honesty in design and materials, handmade elements and furnishings, and the use of local building materials.
St. Peter’s was listed as a Contributing Property to the National Register of Historic Places, Helena Historic District, in 1990.
Our cathedral today
The interior and exterior of St. Peter’s have remained unchanged since its construction in 1932. The intimacy of the small cathedral, with its elegant stained-glass windows, evokes a sense of togetherness, and the prayer-soaked walls remind us of the generations of parishioners who have worshipped here.
As much as we cherish our building, we are mindful that the heart of our worship is each other. It’s the community that makes the church.
