Stevensville is the oldest town in the state and claims a number of other important "firsts." The first church—St. Mary’s Mission—was established in 1841, along with the first school in the Northwest. With the Mission came agriculture; Stevensville grew the first grain, ground the first flour, milled the first lumber, had the first planted fruit trees, and practiced the first irrigation in Montana.
John Owen established his trading post in 1850 and filed Montana’s oldest water right in 1852.
The peaceful community of Stevensville, nestled in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley between the Sapphire and Bitterroot Mountain Ranges, has weathered both boom and bust in agriculture, mining and timber industries. Through the years Stevensville has managed to retain the simplicity and charm of its rural roots.
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