The statue is now known as Our Lady of the Rockies, and stands on the Continental Divide’s East Ridge, about 3,500 feet above Butte | Wikimedia Commons
The Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives records the beginning of the project in December 1979. Its account says the 90-foot statue was completed in December 1985 after being conceived by O’Bill as a tribute to the Virgin Mary following his wife’s recovery from cancer. O’Bill died in 2016, but Joyce survived him. The project began with a personal promise in 1979, and by December 1985, a 90-foot statue stood on the East Ridge.
The original reason for the statue therefore remains part of its history, while the monument itself has taken on a wider role in Butte. O’Bill was an electrician who had worked for the Anaconda Company and Montana Power Co. before retiring. His wife’s illness gave him the original reason for the project, but the statue soon became a community effort. The archives state that O’Bill promised to build a shrine if his wife recovered from cancer. Joyce did recover, and the project expanded beyond the couple into a community effort involving volunteers from around Butte. The archives state that residents spent nearly six years constructing the statue, while trying to build roads and raise money for the project. The University of Montana describes Our Lady of the Rockies as a major Butte landmark. The statue now sits on private land high above the city, and can be seen from much of Butte and from surrounding roads. Its construction involved volunteers, engineers, military crews and residents who spent years raising money and preparing the site.
Our Lady of the Rockies remains above Butte today, standing on the Continental Divide with the city below.
Butte electrician Bob O’Bill made a promise during his wife’s battle with cancer in 1979. Joyce survived, and O’Bill eventually turned the small idea into a 90-foot statue on a mountain above Butte. The statue is now known as Our Lady of the Rockies, and stands on the Continental Divide’s East Ridge, about 3,500 feet above Butte. Construction began in 1979 and took six years, with residents contributing labor and helping raise money for the project, according to the official Our Lady of the Rockies organization .
If Joyce recovered, he would build a statue of the Virgin Mary in her honor. A small promise became a community project
