Miles City Academy (Ursuline Convent)
- Categories:
- Convention Facilities, Things to See, Historic Sites
- Keywords:
- General info
-
The first Ursuline Convent in the Rocky Mountains opened in Miles City on January 18, 1884. Six teaching sisters of the order of St. Ursula from Toledo, Ohio, came to Montana invited by Father Lindesmith, Fort Keogh chaplain. Bishop Brondel requested that three of the sisters settle in Miles City. The three remaining “Lady Black Robes” traveled south led by Superior Mother Amadeus Dunne to establish St. Labre’s Mission among the Northern Cheyenne.
The Convent of the Sacred Heart enrolled both sons and daughters of settlers from all over eastern Montana. Twenty dollars a month paid for their “board, tuition, and washing.” In 1897, a fire destroyed the convent. Local ranchers and merchants donated land and prominent Helena architect Charles S. Haire was commissioned to design a new academy. The three-story brick and stone structure, constructed in formal Colonial Revival style with distinctive Romanesque and Queen Anne elements was completed in 1902.
A central entrance pavilion with four wooden columns supports a triangular pediment. Palladian windows and a rounded tower capped by a conical roof add pleasing visual interest. The well-preserved landmark is an apt tribute
-
Miles City Academy (Ursuline Convent)