VIRGINIA CITY — The bricks resting at the steps to the entrance of a historic building in Virginia City were once the foundation for Montana’s first high school — the space where Montana's first school district was established. Now the organization that is rehabilitating the building is making a creative learning environment for working artists.
Virginia City is a quintessential Old West community that draws half a million visitors in the summer months who are curious about discovering this unique piece of American history.
Join us on a visual journey as we explore the renovation of Montana's first high school into a creative space for artists—click to watch!
Historian Jim Jarvis says the town is like a living ghost town. Between gift shops, theater houses, restaurants, bars, and hotels little vignettes offer a glimpse into toy shops and dress shops that give visitors a glimpse into the past.
"These old places have story, you know. Story is what we’re all about. It’s important that we keep those stories alive and certainly schoolhouses share a very special place in people’s hearts," says Jim Jarvis.
Jarvis has been restoring and preserving historic spaces in Butte and Virginia City for over two decades. Now, inspired by his wife who is an artist, Jarvis is turning his attention to the dilapidated schoolhouse that was built during the heyday of the town's gold rush in the late 1800s, when it was named the territorial capital of Montana.
"Breathing new life into these old spaces is a way of keeping the story alive but also then providing opportunities for new stories to be created there as well," says Jarvis.
He sits at a table in the schoolhouse that currently acts as his wife's studio. She paints a sweeping vision of Sphinx Mountain, an iconic feature in the range located just over the hill from Virginia City.
"From a painting perspective, I’m interested in edges and where land meets air and water," says Sheri Jarvis. She works in several artistic disciplines, but she has also worked for the state of Montana to facilitate community and educational opportunities for artists.
"Investing in the arts is more important than ever. So, I could not be more proud of what we are doing to invest in the arts," says Sheri Jarvis.
The schoolhouse will eventually host studio and classroom space for artists and Sheri says it will be an economic win for the community.
"The arts are a business and people, they want to be around art. They want to experience it and that makes for happy people. Happy people are more likely to spend money. We are real, true economic drivers of the communities," says Sheri.
The project is expected to take about 3 years to complete and will cost around five thousand dollars to stabilize the building and modernize plumbing and heating systems.
