Swan Valley Community Hall
The Swan Valley’s Community Hall, built in 1938-1939, has been Condon’s central meeting place and “the heart of the community” for eight decades. This old log building serves as a place for community forums, weddings, anniversaries, memorial services, church services, community and government meetings, history exhibits, regular meetings for various community organizations, pot-luck dinners, dances and fundraisers
The community hall stands on land homesteaded by Jesse Forster. He filed on his 160-acre parcel in 1919 and proved up in 1923. President Calvin Coolidge signed the documents. Forster allowed the hall to be built on a portion of his land as part of a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project. He leased the land where the community hall stands to Missoula County then later sold his homestead parcel to Bob and Gyda Newman in 1952. In the 1980s, the Newmans deeded the land to the county.
A number of local residents worked on the construction. Fred Roll was in charge of building the foundation. The logs (western larch) were cut from Smith Creek Flats. Jesse Forster levered the heavy logs up the walls, while Roxy and John Hollopeter and others notched and fitted the logs into place, using the Swedish cope method. John Hollopeter also put the shingles on the roof and laid the floor. The cost of labor and materials totaled $4,730. A board of trustees formed in 1940 to oversee the community hall. In the treasury at the time was $3.52.
Mary Lou Wilhelm who grew up in the Swan Valley said, “They had lots of dances at the community hall. They had an old juke box, and that is what we danced to. The dances were all just country western. That’s what everybody liked. My dad was a really good dancer. That’s how us kids learned to dance. He knew how to polka and schottische and all those old dances like that.”
The Swan Valley Community Club, a small dedicated group of residents, takes care of maintenance and upkeep, and ensures that those who rent the hall leave it clean and orderly for the next event.
