St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Ottawa)

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church is the oldest Presbyterian church in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

History

Creation

St. Andrews is Ottawa's oldest Protestant Presbyterian Church in Canada congregation Nicholas Sparks donated land in 1827, which permitted the construction and opening in 1828 of the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.

The church was founded for, and built by, the Scottish and Irish labourers who were constructing the Rideau Canal for Montreal's John Redpath and their own Thomas MacKay. The location on Wellington Street was purchased for 200 pounds sterling and the church was built during lulls in the construction of the canal.

As Ottawa had no Anglican church at the time, St. Andrew's argued that it should be considered the established church in the city, as the representative of the Established Church of Scotland. The advantage of being so recognized, was the rights to clergy reserves. The authorities agreed to the request, and in 1837 the church was granted a large glebe to the south of the city. This area stretching from Bronson Avenue to the Rideau Canal later became the neighbourhood known as the Glebe.

In the 1840s a stone manse was built where the Sunday School Hall later stood. The minister of St. Andrews was the Rev. Alexander McKidd, M.A., from 1844 to July 1846.

In 1844, a number of families left following the 1843 Disruption within the Church of Scotland, and formed Knox Free Church.

Rev. William Durie, was inducted in the spring of 1846, cared for the typhus-stricken immigrants passing through Bytown and died of typhus in September 1847. The Rev. Alexander Spence, D.D., served a long ministry of nearly twenty years from July 1848 – 1867.

An extension for the original building was completed in 1854. The Rev. J. H. McLardy was Assistant Minister during 1865. During 1866-1867, the Rev. Daniel Miner Gordon was Assistant Minister; he returned as Minister 1869-1883, and later served as Principal of Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.

The building was replaced with the current structure in 1872. The commission for St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church on Wellington Street at Kent Street was awarded to William Tutin Thomas of Montreal in 1872-74.

Since the 1970s

With the changing demographics in Ottawa, there were other changes in the area adjacent to the congregation. In the 1970s, it was decided to lease the land to the rear of the church. The Sunday school building that had been built in 1874 was torn down (there was a fire) and an office building, St. Andrew's Tower, was built in its place in 1988. This building, which is attached directly to the rear of the church, is now the headquarters of the Department of Justice, although the congregation has offices, and rooms on the lower levels, entered from Kent Street, with wheelchair access from the Tower Building.

A number of dignitaries have attended the church. It was where Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King worshipped when in Ottawa. Governors General included the Earl of Aberdeen, and Lord Tweedsmuir, also known as author John Buchan, whose February 1940 funeral was held within the sanctuary. Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was baptized here, while the royal family was in exile during the Second World War, and a lectern was later donated by the family, featuring the Dutch Royal Coat of Arms.

In September 2003, the congregation celebrated its 175th anniversary. A new history, Unto the Hills Around by John S. Moir, was published for this occasion. This book was awarded the T. Melville Bailey Memorial Award by the Presbyterian Church in Canada's Committee on History in June 2005.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Andrew%27s_Presbyterian_Church_(Ottawa)