The Bridger Methodist Episcopal Church and its Ladies Aid were organized in 1899, a year before the town of Bridger was founded. Early services in this small Montana community were led by itinerant ministers such as Reverend John G. Clark and were held in the dining room of the Barlow Hotel or in the hall above Hiram Haskin’s hardware store. Land for the church was donated when the Bridger townsite was platted in 1900, though groundbreaking did not begin until March 1905. The Ladies Aid raised money through dinners and sales of handmade quilts, clothing, and other items, and under Reverend Clark’s direction stonemason Eric Forsman prepared the foundation as construction began with donated labor and materials. By December, the steeple was ready for its 700-pound bell, and the community-built church was dedicated on May 27, 1906, as the first in the Clarks Fork Valley. The building is a fine example of Methodist church design, with an L-shaped plan, corner bell tower, simplified Gothic windows, open tower fretwork, decorative shingles, and stained glass. The adjacent gable-roofed parsonage, now detached from the property, was completed in 1914. In 1939, three congregations merged to form the Methodist Church, in 1949 an addition was completed for a growing membership, and in 1968 it was renamed the United Methodist Church, continuing to reflect the valley’s early religious development.