Montana Deaconess Board.

The Montana Deaconess Board was the governing body of all Deaconess institutions in Montana. Deaconess was a national movement of the Methodist Episcopal and other Pretestant churches to provide social, medical, and educational services. In Montana, Deaconess opened hospitals in several communities. They also opened the school in Helena.

The Montana Deaconess Preparatory School was incorporated on July 2, 1909, by Richard Lockey, J. Henry Longmaid, Cornelius Hedges, and others. The aim of the school was to provide a proper education for young people preparatory to high school or college. J. Henry Longmaid was elected first president and Edward Mills and W. W. VanOrsdel were elected vice presidents. The school was renamed the Montana Deaconess School shortly after its founding. The school acquired the abandoned Montana Wesleyan University building in the Helena Valley and refurbished it. The school opened in September 1909. It was predominantly a boarding school for children at all levels of schooling. In 1971 the school became the Intermountain Children's Home.