The Mountain Brook School is one of five sites in the state nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.  

The Montana State Historic Preservation Office and State Historic Preservation Review Board on Jan. 23 will review and forward nominations to the U.S. Department of the Interior.  

The Mountain Brook School, located on Foothill Road east of Creston, was constructed in 1922. It has served as both an educational facility and a community gathering place. 

The property has four buildings, including the main school building, a 1934 attached wood frame teacherage, a pre-1934 shed, a 1961 pumphouse and the 1968 multi-purpose building. Historic playground equipment is also part of the property. 

The school displays a similar building presentation as the homesteads and farms in the area, reflecting its period of construction, according to the application. Metal panels cover the roof of the main block and additions, which feature a mixture of enclosed and exposed rafters. A brick chimney punctures the roof immediately east of the main block’s roof ridge.  

Mountain Brook School was used until the student numbers began to dwindle in the 1990s. The area was consolidated in the Cayuse Prairie School in 1992, though a few students attended school at the campus through 1995. 

The Mountain Brook Homestead Foundation eventually took over ownership of the campus and has been focused on returning the schoolhouse to a usable state.  

The other sites up for consideration include the Northern Pacific Engine 1356 in Missoula, which was built in 1902, and is significant for its routine Northern Pacific service and its role in evacuating hundreds of people during the devastating 1910 fires that swept across Idaho and Montana. Also being considered in the Lolo National Forest is the Big Hole Lookout, which was built in 1930 and is one of only two surviving log L-5 style lookouts designed by Forest Service engineer Clyde P. Fickes, representing the Federal Government's early fire protection and natural resource conservation efforts in northern Idaho and Montana. 

Finally, the cambium peeled trees in the Bitterroot National Forest are being considered. There are multiple locations of the trees, including campground sites that contain culturally peeled Ponderosa pines that serve as living artifacts of Indigenous cambium harvesting traditions, offering important information about community harvest activities, chronology, and seasonality. 

The board’s January meeting will be held virtually. For more information on the nominated properties, and to find a meeting link, visit mhs.mt.gov/Shpo/index1. For questions related to the upcoming meeting, contact Melissa Munson at (406) 444-7715 or [email protected].