This year’s grants of the Foundation for Montana History are supporting many worthy projects across the state. One that I have been watching for some time, about 7 years, is the progress made in the restoration and reuse of the historic Baxendale School outside of Helena.

Built in the 1890s, it served as a one-room school in rural Lewis and Clark County until the mid-29th century. Luckily no one tore it down over the following decades. About 15 years ago Preserve Montana (then called the Montana Preservation Alliance) carried out a study of the state’s one room schools and convinced the National Trust for Historic Preservation to list Montana’s rural schools as one of the nation’s most threatened historic resources.

But Preserve Montana wanted to do more than advocate for preservation. I wanted to demonstrate how to give these buildings new lives. In 2019 it acquired the Baxendale School, moved it to the outskirts of Helena, and began to use it as a hands-on training center for the repair of older buildings.

I was able to see the progress up close in the fall of 2025, and came away impressed with the progress and plans for next steps.

The support from the Foundation for Montana History will help complete the exterior restoration. What a productive partnership between the Foundation and Preserve Montana!