Sheridan

1866 ... first Sunday School.

September 1866 first sermon in Sheridan by Rev. George Comfort.

Summer 1873 Revs. Francis Riggin and Wm. Wesley Van Orsdel (Brother Dan) are appointed to the newly formed circuit headquartered in Sheridan. This circuit stretched from Virginia City to Bannack and Salmon City, Idaho.

Dec 2, 1873 - the first church is dedicated. It is still in use as Bethany Hall and is the oldest Protestant church building in continuous use in Montana.

Jan. 30, 1906, the 1st services were held in the current church building.

Erected by Bethel United Methodist Church.

Pete Daly built a log roadhouse at this site in 1863. Unlike most roadhouses of the time, which provided meals, companionship and a place to stay for weary travelers, Daly's was allegedly a hangout for Montana's most notorious criminal gang – the "Innocents.” It was reputedly lead by Henry Plummer, the Sheriff of Bannock and Virginia City. His deputies were supposedly members of the gang.

According to legend, the Innocents watched travelers stopping here on the Virginia City and Bannock Road. If they looked like easy targets to the crooks, there were plenty of places to rob them in the wilderness between the two mining camps. Although not a member of the Innocents, Daly was well aware of their activities. Most of the members of the gang, including Plummer, were killed by the Vigilantes in early 1864.

This log building is traditionally known as Robber's Roost. It was not, however, constructed until several years after Plummer's gang met its grisly end. Unlike its predecessor, this building functioned more as a traditional stage stop. Pete Daly lived to a ripe old age and was one of the valley’s most prominent citizens at the time of his death in 1915.

This small community of Sheridan is located approximately 55 miles south of Butte. Our population is 700 within the town proper, and approximately another 700 in the adjacent Ruby Valley rural area. When those who had come to Virginia City in the quest for gold and riches found that many of their dreams were not going to materialize, they began looking elsewhere. This led to other industries of agriculture and timber, as well as mining for minerals other than gold. The first lumber mill in the Sheridan area was built in 1863 to fulfill the needs of the underground mines and the community being established. In 1866 the post office was established and the little hamlet needed a name. There were a considerable number of miners in the area who had traveled north and west after the Civil War and the general consensus was to name the hamlet after General Phillip Henry Sheridan, a prominent and popular general affectionately called "Little Phil". Thus the town of Sheridan was born and became a supply town for the area miners, loggers, ranchers and people traveling westward in search of a new and better life. Sheridan was incorporated in 1893.

Erected by

Main Street Improvement Team.

William O’Brien arrived in the gold-mining and ranching town of Sheridan, Montana, in 1881 and began selling liquor from a small sixteen-by-twenty-foot building. He was one of the town’s three suppliers of “wet groceries” (liquor), the quality of which, according to the October 13, 1894, Madisonian, was “as good as ever painted landscapes on the brain of man.” Sales were brisk, his business flourished, and O’Brien assumed increasing prominence in the community. He served as a school trustee, as one of Sheridan’s original aldermen, and as a member of the Montana legislature. In 1889, O’Brien purchased a large, corner lot (100 x 200 feet) for $160 from the estate of early Sheridan pioneer Hugh Duncan. Five years later he built this two-story, brick residence, where he lived with his wife, Mary, and their three daughters. The home’s size, design, and materials spoke to O’Brien’s political and financial success. Most homes in Sheridan—a town of 350 people in 1893—were built of wood; thus, the brick O’Brien residence, with its standing-seam metal roof, stood out. The irregularly shaped residence reflects the Italian Renaissance style, as seen in the building’s two-story, three-bay façade, its small, restrained porch, and its wide projecting cornice that draws attention to the hipped roof. Segmental brick arches and stone lintels grace the windows, which are set in walls three bricks deep. Although William died of Bright’s disease in 1901 at age forty-five, the home remained in the O’Brien family until 1927.

Erected by Montana Historical Society.