George McVay Fisher- An early Clergyman in western Montana, George Fisher came west from Pennsylvania. He came to Montana in 1882 and served in Missoula and throughout the Bitterroot Valley for five years. He established the Presbyterian Church in Corvallis in 1884. In 1886 he vacationed in the Flathead Valley and preached the first sermon ever preached in the town of Ashley on September 12, 1886. His subject was "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God". the next Sunday he preached again in the log schoolhouse. A boy mounted a horse and rode through the neighborhood announcing the service for that afternoon. Rev. Fisher commented on the attendance, "There was an audience of interested and uninterested people numbering about twenty."
In 1887 he was commission by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions to serve the Flathead Valley. He moved from Missoula to Ashley in a covered wagon with his wife, Mary E, and one baby. The ground was covered with snow, and at night they slept in Indian cabins. They arrived in Ashley on December 1, 1887 and moved into a 14'x 20' cabin "with a mud roof and greasy walls." He bought 160 acres on which he built a house and in 1891, when the new town of Kalispell was started, Rev. Fisher sold a part of his land to the Townsite Company. On September 13, 1891, he organized the First Presbyterian Church of Kalispell with 17 members. According to Sam Johns, "He (Rev. Fisher) has married and buried more people than all the other preachers put together He was human and saw the pest in everyone His wife, too, gave to the children of that that soemthing they will never forget." (The Pioneers, Vol 3)
The Fisher family had two sons and four daughters. Rev. Fisher died in Jane 1932. His wife, Mary Elizabeth, died in Januar 1937. His home stands on the corner of 5th Avenue West and 2nd Street in Kalispell and is on the National Historic Register.
In 1887 he was commission by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions to serve the Flathead Valley. He moved from Missoula to Ashley in a covered wagon with his wife, Mary E, and one baby. The ground was covered with snow, and at night they slept in Indian cabins. They arrived in Ashley on December 1, 1887 and moved into a 14'x 20' cabin "with a mud roof and greasy walls." He bought 160 acres on which he built a house and in 1891, when the new town of Kalispell was started, Rev. Fisher sold a part of his land to the Townsite Company. On September 13, 1891, he organized the First Presbyterian Church of Kalispell with 17 members. According to Sam Johns, "He (Rev. Fisher) has married and buried more people than all the other preachers put together He was human and saw the pest in everyone His wife, too, gave to the children of that that soemthing they will never forget." (The Pioneers, Vol 3)
The Fisher family had two sons and four daughters. Rev. Fisher died in Jane 1932. His wife, Mary Elizabeth, died in Januar 1937. His home stands on the corner of 5th Avenue West and 2nd Street in Kalispell and is on the National Historic Register.