Our Lady of the Rockies
Our Lady of the Rockies is a 90-foot statue built in the likeness of Mary, the mother of Jesus, that stands atop the Continental Divide overlooking Butte, Montana, United States.
It is the fourth-tallest statue in the United States after Birth of the New World, the Statue of Liberty, and the Pegasus and Dragon. The base is 8,510 feet above sea level and approximately 3,000 feet above the town. The statue sits on private land and is lit and visible at night.
The statue was originally conceived by Butte resident Bob O'Bill in 1979 as a tribute to the Virgin Mary following the recovery of his wife from cancer. Later, the statue was additionally dedicated to "all women, especially mothers."
Construction
The statue was first imagined by Bob O'Bill in 1979 during a time when his wife was seriously ill with cancer. O'Bill decided he would build a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe if his wife would survive. His wife did recover. He began the project and eventually built a 90-foot mountaintop statue.The statue was largely constructed using donations of money, materials, and labor from the local community. The design was made by Leroy Lee, the welder who fabricated the statue with help from Ron Hughes. During construction Laurien Eugene Riehl, a retired engineer donated time into mapping the statue structure into prints.
Work on the project began December 29, 1979. The base of the statue was poured in September 1985 with 400 tons of concrete. On December 17, 1985, a CH-54 Tarhe from the Army National Guard's 137th Aviation Company airlifted the statue in four sections to its present location at Saddle Rock atop Butte's East Ridge. The land for the site was donated by Guy Ossello. The head was placed on December 20, 1985.
Tourism
The Our Lady of the Rockies gift shop in Butte offers bus tours to the statue during summer.Controversy
Opposition
Prior to the statue being erected, some residents voiced opposition to the project on religious grounds.In 1981, evoking the doctrine of separation of church and state, Catholic priest Father Edward Hislop was quoted in The Montana Standard as saying, "Although the statue is on private ground, it is clearly in a public place. The East Ridge has always belonged to the people of Butte, and that might be offensive to some and pose difficulties."
In March 1985, nationally syndicated advice columnist Ann Landers published a letter from a reader complaining that "one religious group in Butte, Mont., is forcing its religious beliefs on an entire city."