September 12, 1886    -    September 12, 2026

The Focus was on Rev. George McVey Fisher, a Presbyterian minister and foundational leader

    When George Fisher first came to Montana, it was 1882, and he was the only Presbyterian minister in N.W. Montana.  This is now a 5 county area.  George & Mary Fisher were married in January of 1886, by Rev. E.P. Linnell.  Rev. George Fisher was preaching in Missoula at the time.  Rev. Linnell a Presbyterian Missionary, suggested that George take Mary on a camping trip up North, and explore the prospects of starting a church up in the Flathead Valley.     

    On September 12, 1886, Rev. George Fisher preached the first sermon in what is now Flathead County.  The service was held at the Ashley schoolhouse.  The title of the first sermon was, “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God.”  Predating Kalispell, the town of Ashley got its start in 1884.  The 1st school in Ashley was a small log building used as the schoolhouse, the Town Hall, Court House, Dance Hall, and many other things.  But, after Rev. Fisher's arrival, it was also a church!

    Their first season of time in the Flathead was just temporary, but George preached regularly in Ashley, and in Selish (about 12 miles S.E., on the Flathead River), and at Sheldon (About 9 miles E.N. of Ashley, on the Eastside of the Flathead River.  After 1 month they returned home to Missoula, and began making plans to relocate as a family to this new promising area.  Rev. Fisher visited the Flathead Valley several times through the Autumn.  Locals asked him to come organize churches in both Ashley and Selish.  He made plans, and was soon traveling back in a covered wagon, with everything he and his wife Mary thought they would need for themselves, and their baby girl, Crystal.  Just a half mile outside of Ashley, the Fishers moved into a small 14 x 20 ft log home with a mud roof.  He was eventually able to purchase another man's improvements on 160 acres and filed a pre-emption claim on the place.   

    When the community of Ashley realized that George Fisher was now moving in permanently, things were different, and at first the community  was not at all accepting of the Fishers.  There were quite a number of vocal unbelievers, and they assumed Rev. Fisher was narrow, and unfamiliar with anything but spiritual topics.   It was quite a break when a literary group got started in Ashley.  One of the group's regular activities was to hold debates.  George joined the group, and proved to be well versed on many topics, and a great debater.  It wasn’t long before he noticed that his sceptics began showing up for the Ashley church services.

    Mary taught music before she married George.  She brought a portable organ with her in their wagon when they moved to Ashley from Missoula.  She transported it from their house every week for the church services in Ashley.  The school house proved to be very cold during the Winters.  When George mentioned he was going to make improvements to the chinking between the logs, a whole group of men showed up to help him.  On June 2, 1889, a Presbyterian Church was officially organized in Ashley, with 7 members.

    Rev. Fisher makes reference to the special challenges of building up a church in a place where there are so many immigrants from foreign countries.  One man with a superstitious mindset stirred up a lot of trouble when he said, 'We have had no good luck since the preacher came; I don't know any other reason for it.”  And he was in dead earnest.   In a different mining camp a preacher visited them and put up fliers in the town for preaching services.  A miner stopped and read the poster and then exclaimed, "Boys, the camp won't be worth a d —n, the preacher's come before we struck bedrock."  

    In 1891 the town of Kalispell came into existence, and the town of Ashley’s life was merged into it.  In the rear room of the new Kalispell Post office, the Kalispell Sunday School was started on August 2.  And then on August 31, 1891, the Presbyterian Church in Kalispell was organized by Rev. Fisher.  This new church was made up of members from Kalispell, along with those who had previously been part of the church in Ashley, 17 members in all.  Circumstances were in constant change.

    Then on September 12 (The 5th Anniversary of the first sermon), the officials of the Kalispell Sunday School, Superintendent J.H. Edwards and the Assistant Superintendent B.B. Gilliland changed the Sunday School’s  name to the First Presbyterian Sunday School.  What makes this interesting is that the origin of Kalispell’s first Baptist Church dates back to these same circumstances.  Because B.B. Gilliland and Mr. Edwards, the Sunday School’s leaders, had begun efforts earlier in ‘91 to see a Baptist Church started.  Mr. Gilliland had canvassed the new community of Kalispell to see if he could find others with a Baptist background.  The effort was fruitful, and early in the next year, in ‘92, seventeen Baptists attended their organizational meeting.

    - - These pioneer leaders combined their efforts to bring Bible Education to this new town, as a whole.  But, at the same time, they were also working on their separate unique expressions of the local church.

    Mrs. C.O. Ingall’s, the wife of the founder of the Inter Lake newspaper in 1889, said of Rev. Fisher, “He, I believe, has married and buried more people than all the other preachers put together.  He was so human, and saw the best in everyone.”

    Other places where Rev. Fisher held preaching services were Brochen, Fairview and Pine Grove, which were all taken over by the Methodist, and eventually had church buildings.  Besides Ashley and Kalispell, Reverend George McVey Fisher also organized a Presbyterian Church in Libby.  In all, accounts state he officially organized 6 local Presbyterian churches in N/W Montana.

* George named his horse, “Gospel Horse”, and rode him to all of his appointments for 15 years.

* Rev. George McVey Fisher continued in ministry as a pastor in the Flathead Valley until he retired in 1900.