Dion Block in Glendive receives Governor’s Award

Remarks by Lt. Governor Kristen Juras at the Myrna Loy Center, Helena on May 16, 2025

I am pleased to recognize Kevin and Angela McPherson with a Governor’s Award for their outstanding work rehabilitating the Dion Block in Glendive. The Dion Block comprises five storefronts in the 100 block of South Merrill Avenue’s National Register District.

Its builder, Henry Dion was a versatile doer who established a brick kiln to make fireproof brick after an 1886 blaze wiped out his earlier wood building at this location. Dion was Glendive’s first mayor and presided over the Exchange State Bank, which operated out of his namesake building. The Dion Block would expand through additions and remodels until 1929 and would remain a vital commercial space for much of the twentieth century.

One hundred and thirty years after Dion began, his building required another set of multi-tasking visionaries to give it a second life. Today, we thank Kevin and Angela McPherson for their work restoring the Dion’s architectural and economic prominence.

Dion Block, circa 1970s

Little did Kevin know growing up in Glendive that he’d one day own the Dion. First, though he’d leave the state for a dentistry degree. Kevin, Angela, and one-year-old Ethan arrived in Glendive in 2013, and Kevin began his dental practice in the Dion’s former Exchange State Bank unit. When the Dion went on the market in 2017, the McPhersons saw the need to protect their recent investment building out their dental office.

The McPherson’s building rehabilitation project began in 2019 with a mechanical system replacement. A USDA-REAP Grant supported this and had the McPhersons consulting with SHPO. That same year, SHPO awarded the Dion project a brick-and-mortar grant for a new storefront and window repairs. The McPhersons then earned a Montana Department of Commerce Historic Preservation Grant, and Federal and State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits. All told, the McPhersons have invested over $1.5 million in grants, private funds, and sweat equity.

Kevin and Angela McPherson, like so many preservationists, are not historians, architects, or builders. Like Henry Dion, they are fundamentally investors in their community, practical and smart enough to do all the varied tasks themselves. Unlike some who engage with their investments at a comfortable distance, the McPhersons’ investment has had them evicting pigeons and bats, crawling through attics, and refinishing wood floors on evenings and weekends; and their work continues.

Thank you Kevin, Angela, and Ethan.