Over the summer, the Montana Historical Society was awarded a nearly half-million dollar grant to stabilize and provide safe access to the historic Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Great Falls.

The $497,712 grant is through the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Park Service and its Historic Preservation Fund’s African American Civil Rights grant program.

Coupled with the church’s $200,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Saving Black Churches program, the funds will provide repairs to the failing exterior brick; installation of a new lift to provide access; create ADA-compliant bathrooms; and update the electrical system, according to MTHS.

Effort to preserve United Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church receives $497k grant

The NPS grant program focuses on preserving sites and stories directly associated with African Americans’ struggles to gain equal rights.

The Montana State Historic Preservation office has asked the City of Great Falls to administer the grant to allow more of the grant funding to pass through to the church project since the state is required take a portion of the grant for administrative costs.

Kate Hampton, community preservation coordinator at SHIPO, wrote the grant application for the church and during the City Commission’s Nov. 19 work session, said that her office negotiates that rate with NPS annually and this year’s rate is 23.5 percent, which is a “big chunk of change.”

Hampton asked city staff if they’d assume administration of the grant since they can take a smaller portion of the grant for administrative costs.

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Hampton said that in exchange for the city administering the grant, her office could offer $10,000 to $12,000 to the city for each year of the grant, which is an estimated three-year project, in addition to the $6,000 the state annually allocates to the city toward the cost of the joint city-county historic preservation officer.

During the Nov. 19 meeting, City Manager Greg Doyon said that offer was news to him.

In an Oct. 16 memo from Tom Hazen, the city’s grant’s manager, wrote to Doyon, “it has also been discussed that the SHPO would pay an increased portion of the city historic preservation officer’s salary for the life of the grant.”

Hazen told commissioners that staff can handle the grant, but because of the many federal requirements, it may limit their ability to pursue other grants and might impact some of their other existing grants.

A 10 percent portion of the grant for administrative costs might be tight, Hazen said.

In his memo to Doyon, he wrote that the city has acted as the pass through entity before, including several Big Sky Economic Trust Fund awards.

The city also handles federal funds from Community Development Block Grants through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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The city received $10 million from the U.S. Department of Defense toward the new Big Sky Aim High indoor aquatic center.

The city has also received numerous federal grants for Great Falls Fire Rescue and Great Falls Police Department and commissioners, and others, have pushed the city to pursue more grants for public safety and other city needs.

Hazen said he wanted to make commissioners aware of some considerations before they agree to administrate the grant.

He said that if Union Bethel doesn’t perform, the city may be held liable for any distributions that do not meet the federal grant requirements, which happened to the city in 2015 when it served as a passthrough grant entity for B?E Aerospace.

The company couldn’t meet the grant requirements and had to return $160,312.50.

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Hazen said that if the company hadn’t had the funds, the city may have been liable for reimbursing those funds to the state. If that were to happen on a federal grant, it could negatively impact the city’s future eligibility for funding.

In the case of the Union Bethel grant, the city could essentially have to front funds to the church as they draw on the grant and the city would submit a reimbursement request to the state, which would pass that request to NPS and it the funds would trickle back down in a a process that would take about 30 days, Hazen said.

Melissa Kinzler, city finance director, said she has cashflow concerns for the city if they administer the grant.

Administering the grant to meet federal requirements would take significant staff time, Hazen said, and could open the door for future such requests.

Doyon said he was concerned about staff capacity if they administer the church’s grant.

Hampton told commissioners that she was asking the city to consider administering the grant given staff’s expertise with federal funding requirements and to maximize the money that would pass through to the church to complete the project, which she said was already on a razor thin budget.

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Commissioner Joe McKenney said, “in my heart,” he thought the preservation project was good, but was concerned it would set a precedent and take up too much staff time, as well as any potential liability for the city.

Hampton said that the project is going to bid immenintely and they’re hoping to start construction this winter with a target completion date of May 2027.

She said Ken Sievert is the project architect and he has significant experience in historical projects and the federal requirements.

Mayor Cory Reeves said he was “proud that they got this award, but I have serious reservations with us being the passthrough entity for this.”

Doyon said there’d been conversation about the level of grant activity the city is or should be engaged in considering their budget issues but that staff would continue conversation with Hampton would provide a draft contract detailing the requirements. Then staff will do a financial impact to make a final decision.

The Union Bethel AME church stands at 916 5th Ave. S. and is “one of the most significant properties associated with Montana’s African American Civil Rights history. Organized in 1890, congregants dedicated Union Bethel’s current church in 1917. By the 1910s, discriminatory ‘Jim Crow’ laws infiltrated Montana’s codes and local ordinances, placing restrictions on Black residents’ ability to marry, work, and patronize businesses. Unofficial but pervasive policies placed many constraints on African Americans. In response, Union Bethel AME became the center of Great Falls African American citizens’ civil rights work for social uplift, education, and equality at the local, state, and national levels,” according to a MTHS release.

The church that remains today was the second church on the location and completed in 1917.

According to the NPS’ document entering the church onto the National Register of Historic Places, the church is a “tall, one-story, rectangular, wooden structure with brick veneer that is sheltered by a steep gable roof. The overall presentation of the church is one of studied formalism, tidiness, and substance. Drawing predominately from Gothic Revival influences, the church also exhibits eclectic influences, borrowing from Tudor styles in the parapeted gable roof, crowsteps and the unbroken wall surface on the southern elevation. Features possibly drawn from Italian Renaissance styles include the square, centered tower and the wide overhangs supported by paired, wooden brackets. Exterior wall surfacing on the church is running bond and decorative brickwork is understated. It includes a soldier course above the foundation and double rowlock perimeters at the window heads.”

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The church underwent minimal repairs or alterations during the “period of significance from 1917-1950,” but after 1950, vandalism destroyed the original stained glass windows, which were replaced with textured glass, according to the NPS document.

“Despite this diminished integrity of materials and design, the building still retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance. The steeple roof also has been reshingled. Original lights and pews perpetuate the interior historic feeling. Overall, the building retains a high degree of historic integrity in terms of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association. During the period of significance the parsonage was reduced from the size it attained during the expansion of 1924, and was completely razed from the property in 1982,’ according to the NPS document.

Pastor Betsy Williams describes the Gothic Revival-style church as a jewel in the neighborhood and in a MTHS release, said, “I see life that comes from here. It’s a shining brightness…in the middle of this neighborhood; [it] is somewhere where you can gather, where there can be resources, where there can be help, where there can be spiritual uplifting.”

Photos courtesy of the Montana Historical Society