ABOUT US

The historic Nine Mile Stark School House and the Church are maintained to benefit and serve the community.

The Nine Mile Stark School House was built in 1915 and served as the valley's school until 1949, when it was deeded to the community. In 1995, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and recent renovations have been performed in keeping with it's historic look and function.

The Church was originally a storage shed, owned by the Beaver Dredging Company's dry land mining operations, probably in the 1930's. About 1949, mining operations ended and the storage shed was abandoned. Local residents moved the storage building and a second smaller structure from the mining camp to the Proebstel property on Kennedy Creek Road. It was then lovingly converted into a community church and the smaller structure became a Sunday school. The pews, chancellery furniture and bell were relocated from the Cut Bank Presbyterian Church after it built a new church in 1950. In 2006, the church building was donated to the Nine Mile Community and moved to its present location next to the school.

In 2012 the Nine Mile Community Center added an outdoor pavilion to the property to give a place for covered outdoor picnics and activities.

The buildings on the Community Center property are used throughout the year for various community events and are available for rent for private parties as well as public community events. All functions and events are subject to the application process and approval by the Nine Mile Community Center Board of Directors. The purpose of the Nine Mile Community Center Board is to provide and furnish a community center at which meetings of religious, educational, literary, charitable and social groups may be held in the present and for many years to come.

Recent uses include: Nine Mile Weed Group, Open Land Working Group, Nine Mile Land Use Planning Group, Water Trust, and Nine Mile Creek Restoration group meetings. Missoula County officials also use the Center for public hearings, as an information center for briefing meetings during forest fires and wildlife encounters (grizzly bears, wolves). During election campaigns, it provides a location for candidate forums. The Community Center functions as the valley's social center, hosting holiday craft fairs and potlucks, and provides space for weddings, graduation celebrations, and summer barbecues.

Our facilities are available to rent and we updated our rental contract in July 2021. Please see our rental agreement for details.

You can keep up with Nine Mile happenings by reading the minutes from our Board meetings, or perusing the newsletters we send to the valley community.