St. Mary's Mission, Catholic church and heritage site in Stevensville, United States.

St. Mary's Mission is a cluster of log buildings in Stevensville, Montana, including a chapel, pharmacy, and visitor center that together form a historic complex. The grounds also contain a museum displaying artifacts and exhibits that document daily life and the interactions between different communities at this location.

In 1841 Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, with Fathers Gregory Mengarini and Nicolas Point and three brothers, founded St. Mary's Mission in the Bitterroot Valley at the request of the Salish. It was the first permanent non-indigenous settlement in what became Montana. Blackfeet raids closed it in 1850; the Jesuits rebuilt the mission a mile south in 1866, and it closed as an Indian mission in 1891.

Salish workers felled the timber for the first log church, which could hold 900 people; women hung mats of long grass on the walls and roof and spread them on the floor, then decorated the interior with cedar and pine branches. The first communion followed at Easter 1842, while Chief Victor was the Salish principal representative in the Bitterroot Valley.

The grounds are open to visitors from April through October, allowing you to explore the buildings and museum at your own pace. Wear comfortable shoes, as you will walk between structures spread across the property and may spend time examining both buildings and outdoor sites.

The mission's first church, built in 1841, could hold 900 people; Salish women felled the timber and hung woven grass mats on its walls and floor. The church was burned after Blackfeet raids closed the mission in 1850, and the rebuilt 1866 church stands about a mile south of the original site.