Labor Hall bought for new church

Albert Jensen, left, listens this morning to Hill County Commission Chair Mike Wendland auction off the former Havre Labor Hall. Jensen bought the property for $16,000 and plans to convert it to a church for his Set Free Ministries.

A symbol of Havre labor unions is switching to another public use, with Albert J. Jensen buying the Havre Labor Hall for $16,000 in a sheriff's sale this morning, with plans to convert it to a new Havre church.

"When you see the sign up, come in for Saturday night church services," Jensen, the pastor of Set Free Ministries Church, said after he bought the property.

Today's sale was the second auction of the property. In the first auction in February, no one bid on the Labor Hall, which was set with a starting bid of $22,000.

Today's bidding started at $8,500 — with back taxes, legal notices and legal work, the county had nearly $5,000 sunk into the sale — and rapidly shot to Jensen's $16,000 bid.

Seven local residents had signed up to bid on the property.

Hill County Commission Chair Mike Wendland, who auctioned the property, said he was pleased with the interest and the sale, even if the bids did not reach the original asking price.

"We got the back taxes paid, and got it back on the tax rolls," he said.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said he also is pleased to see the building back in public use.

Jensen said he is excited. The building is in good shape, and he expects to be holding services there by next month, he said.

He added that he had been trying to purchase another location, but was unable to do so, and was glad when this opportunity arose.

"God had this in store for us," he said.

The building, located at 8th Avenue and 2nd Street, across from Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods, originally was a grocery store. The first listing for the address in the Polk City Directory is in the 1931 directory, as Central Market Grocery.

It continued as a grocery for some 25 years, then held several businesses or organizations — and standing empty a few years — until it was purchased by Havre Labor Temple Inc. in 1971 and opened as Havre Labor Hall.

Local unions — and some out-of-town organizations such as Montana AFL-CIO — rented use of the building, with the labor unions paying rent and operating Havre Labor Temple as a central organization for local unions.

As the original founders of the Labor Temple — it was filed as a nonprofit corporation with the state government in 1950 — changed, grew older and moved away, the organization fell into disarray.

The state ended its recognition of the corporation in 2001 when the proper paperwork was not filed, and the federal government canceled its nonprofit status in 2008 for the same reason.

The county put its first lien on the property in 2009 for $211.38 in taxes due from 2008.

By the time it seized the property last fall, another $937.37 was due, and to take the building out of delinquency as of October 2012 would have cost $1,396.60.