The Montana Department of Commerce has awarded more than $10 million in grants to 31 Montana communities for 44 historic preservation projects.

The grants, awarded through Commerce’s Montana Historic Preservation Grant program will be used to improve historical sites, historical societies and history museums in Montana.

“It is important for us to showcase our state’s rich history, as well as the culture and heritage that created Montana as we know it today,” Scott Osterman, director of the Montana Department of Commerce. said in a release. “Montana Historic Preservation Grants help Montana communities increase economic development, community revitalization and statewide tourism through added investment, job creation, business expansion and local tax-base growth.”

The grants include projects in Great Falls:

• Great Falls: $340,000 for The History Museum
• Great Falls: $400,000 for the Rocky Mountain Building
• Great Falls: $250,000 for the Great Falls Civic Center
• Great Falls: $300,979 for the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art

Kristi Scott, director of The History Museum, said they are adding climate control to their artifact storage spaces where there is currently none. She said they’ll also restore a bank of storeroom windows creating a “visible vault,” allowing visitors to observe the permanent collection and experience museum work.

“We are grateful to have foundational support from the MHPG program as projects like this are beyond challenging to fund. This opportunity will serve as preservation and economic springboards for us while elevating access to archival and ethnographic records important to Montanans,” Scott told The Electric.

The grant funds will be used for exterior façade rehabilitation efforts, parapet wall reconstruction, existing brick repair, existing terra cotta repair, and window replacements at the Rocky Mountain Building, according to Tyler Menzales of Alluvion.

The collapsed parapet wall on the west façade will be reconstructed with as much original salvaged brick and terracotta as possible and the existing brick and terracotta-clad façade will be tuck-pointed with color-matched mortar to match the tooling style of the original construction, Menzales said.

The windows and frames that were damaged by the fire are not salvageable and new windows will be installed and will match the single-hung style, mullion profiles and color of the originals, Menzales said.

The street-level windows and doors are planned to be addressed in third phase to allow for construction access throughout the project’s second phase and at that point, the façade will be fully restored, Menzales said.

The city received half of it’s requested grant funds for restoration work in the Mansfield Theater in the Civic Center.

City seeking grant for Mansfield Theater improvements [2022]

Project improvements may include infrastructure repair, building renovations, maintenance, remediating building code issues, security enhancements and fire protection, according to the state.

The following community projects will receive Montana Historic Preservation grant funding:

Eligible applicants for the MHPG program include incorporated nonprofit organizations, incorporated cities or towns, associations, counties and tribal governments. The next application cycle for the grant program is expected to be in the fall of 2023 with a tentative grant deadline of Feb. 28, 2024.