Designed by the eminent Montana architectural firm of Link & Haire, the church features extraordinarily high quality craftsmanship exhibited by the masonry and interior woodwork, a prominent three story bell tower in the front, and attractive stained glass Gothic windows highlighted by decorative stone arches and lintels.

St. Mary of the Assumption has served as the primary Roman Catholic church for a widely dispersed mining and agricultural population within the Ruby Valley of southwestern Montana for nearly 90 years.

After gold was discovered in nearby Alder Gulch in 1863 and a rush of fortune seekers flooded the area, this small community of Laurin, which has a population of less than 50 people, quickly became established as an important trading post for the entire Ruby Valley mining region.

The original canvas tent trading post, later replaced by a log structure, which also served as the general mercantile store, was opened and operated by Jean- Baptiste Laurin, the founder of the town.

Typically church buildings in small, rural towns throughout Montana during the late 19th century were built of wood frame and sheathed with white clapboard siding.

[1] Built along a modified cruciform ecclesiastical Gothic plan, the sandstone church rests on an un-coursed granite foundation, and has to the right side of the main entrance a shouldered, three story, single bell tower with an octagonal roof.

Windows along the nave, apse and on the tower are stained glass, produced in Minneapolis by the Forman Ford Company, and have Gothic stone arches with solid sandstone sills.