Donations sought to help repaint M Hill

McCOOK, Neb. -- For more than six decades, M Hill has been an unofficial landmark in McCook and a source of pride for current Bison and alumni and residents.

The class of ‘57 and M Club members assembled and whitewashed stones to create the 66-foot wide by 78-foot high M on a hillside three miles south of McCook on the property of Jerry and Donna Lee Holmes Butler on Feb. 18, 1957. Donna’s parents, Ruth and Leonard Holmes, gifted the land to them when they got married.

M Club members and athletes would carry buckets of paint up the hill and whitewash the M with paint brushes regularly until 1970. Since then, the site has been maintained by the Butler family, who have worked to replace rocks, spray weeds, repair vandalism and periodically repaint the site over the years.

The property currently belongs to Steve Butler. He was 3 when it was created and has fond memories of camp fires by the irrigation canals and sledding parties down the hill after blizzards that dumped several feet of snow.

“It’s been a family tradition, a symbol that reminds us all of home,” he said of M Hill. “I hope we can preserve it for decades to come.”

Steve is organizing an online fundraiser so he and a professional painter can repaint M Hill for the first time since 2010, when volunteers whitewashed the stones and scorched weeds and grasses growing among the rocks in preparation for the all-school “Bison Fever” reunion.

Steve hopes to raise $5,000 for 28, 5-gallon buckets for a fresh new coat of paint, and for future maintenance of M Hill. He and a hired professional painter to perform the work.

To donate, visit https://gf.me/u/y6pq2v or go to www.gofundme.com and search for M Hill Project, McCook, Nebraska.