English: Looking south at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, 220 West Main Street, Bozeman, Montana.

The first Holy Rosary Church was constructed at the corner of South Seventh Avenue and Mendenhall Street. The Rev. Joseph Guidi, S.J., oversaw its construction. Land was donated by local man Walter Cooper. It was dedicated on August 29, 1885, by Bishop John B. Brondell. Since Seventh Avenue did not yet exist, the church was in the middle of vast pastures. Parishioners had to brave cow patties, wet grass, and barbed-wire fences to get to it.

In 1905, Rev. Joseph B. Thompson obtained land at the present site for a new church. Work on the $65,000 structure began in the spring of 1907. It was made of Hebron granite bricks, sandstone sills and trim, and a slate roof. Three double oak doors formed the entrance. The tower was 102 feet high; the windows of stained glass made in Munich, Germany; the oak pews could seat 500; the choir loft could seat 100; and there was a main and two side altars in the Gothic style. The cornerstone -- which weighed half a ton and was donated by Columbus Stone Works -- was laid on June 9, 1907. The style of the church is Romanesque Revival with subtle Late Victorian influences. It originally had two bell towers, each with a bell.

The church itself IS NOT on the National Register of Historic Places, because it has been extensively changed and renovated over the years.

In 1912, a red brick Neo-Gothic Revival rectory designed by Fred Willson was built on the east side of the church.

A convent was built about 1919 at the year of the building. An earthquake in 1935 destroyed the second bell tower. In 1942, the sanctuary ceiling was replastered and decoratively painted, the east and west walls replaster and painted to look like travertine, and the chapel converted into a crying room. Eleven years later, the basement of the church finished and occupied by a Parish Center. In the late 1950s, the Gothic main and side altars were removed and a baldachinum (a high wooden canopy) built in its place. A large crucifix hung on the back wall, the altar rail removed, and the altar was brought forward about a third of the way into the sanctuary.

In 1977, the convent closed and was turned into classrooms and meeting rooms. From 1980 to 1982, a new HVAC system was installed, the basement Parish Center was renovated, the sanctuary redecorated, and the rectory interior renovated. An atrium was built to connect the rectory and sanctuary. Holy Rosary Church was redeicated on May 23, 1982.

By 2001, attendance at Holy Rosary had plunged to just 500 families. But with the arrival of Father Leo Proxell, a younger priest, the congregation swelled to about 1,200 families. With the church seriously under-sized, a congregational committee decided in 2006 to expand the building rather than abandon it and build a new church home. Because Holy Rosary rectory had been added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 23, 1987, there were concerns that it not be changed. After extensive discussions, the Gallatin Historical Society and Holy Rosary Church agreed that the convent/classrooms could be demolished but that renovations to the rectory would be limited to the interior.

ThinkOne Architecture oversaw the expansion. Demolishing the now-vacant convent/classroom building allowed the sanctuary to be extended southward by 45 feet. Additional changes included adding east and west wings to make the sanctuary cruciform in shape, adding a vestibule to the front of the church, and raising the roof and tower to accommodate an enlarged below-ground Parish Center. Useable space doubled to 24,000 square feet, and seating capacity expanded to 650 from 375. Because the roof was raised, the distance from the roof to the top of the bell tower is now just 90 feet. The total cost of the renovation was $4.2 million.

Holy Rosary purchased the former Hope Lutheran Church at 210 S. Grand Avenue for temporary use as a sanctuary while the renovations took place.

In 2009, Martel Construction Company of Bozeman began demolition of the convent. Ground breaking for the renovation occurred on October 27, 2010.

Expansion of the sanctuary meant 31 new stained-glass windows were needed. Additional "mysteries of the rosary" -- such as the sorrowful and luminous mysteries -- were represented in the new windows. The church now features a total of 75 stained-glass windows – 59 windows, 16 transoms. Mominee Studios of Evansville, Indiana, did the restoration work on the retained original stained-glass windows and designed and created the new ones.

The expansion also required the construction of a much larger pipe organ. Portions of the 1920s organ (mostly wooden pipes and the wooden console) were incorporated into a brand-new 1,413-pipe organ designed and installed by Balcom and Vaughan Pipe Organs of Everett, Washington. The new organ also has two manual keyboards with 61 notes and a pedal keyboard of 32 notes, and and is twice the size of the original.

Because the roof was raised, the distance from the floor of the sanctuary to the ceiling is now 30 feet. Duncan Kippen and Cheyenne Osmundsen of Uptown Signs of Bozeman designed and painted illustrations of famous Catholic churches and green-and gold-flourishes on the new ceiling.

Holy Rosary’s altar, ambo (the pulpit that doubles as a lectern), and cantor stand were used at the old Hope Lutheran site. Because this liturgical furniture is too small for the expanded church, new furniture was needed. Bozeman wood craftsman Phil Howard created an entirely altar, ambo, cantor stand, and baptismal font for the church.

Dennis Harrington of the Planet Bronze studio created a new, life-size crucifix in bronze to hang on the rear wall of the church.