Located at 1728 Lincoln Road, Emmanuel United Church was the First Church in Canada opened as a “United Church”.
From the Border Cities Star, October 25, 1924:
…The interior design is a modern adoption of the English Romanesque period and will be executed in pressed brick and stone. The auditorium is to be unobstructed by any columns as the roof will be carried by steel trusses.
John E. Trace and Geo. F. Diehl, LaBelle Bldg., are the architects.
From the Border Cities Star, June 4, 1925:
On the site today is the Emmanuel United Church, and while the shape of the northern most part of church is the same basic shape, the front didn’t match. It looked more in line with the mid 1950’s additions than to the 1925 original Trace & Diehl building. So time for a little detective work…
… In this case detective work required driving down the alley to the rear, where the building remained unaltered. Compared to the photo above, this is clearly the original building.
From the Church’s website, brief history:
A new church was built soon after, at the present site in 1925. At that time the church was comprised of what is now called Ottawa Hall. This new church was called “Ottawa United Church”, coming into being concurrently with the formation of the United Church of Canada. The United Church was at that time comprised of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches.
Over the years, the congregation continued to grow, and by the early 1950’s a larger sanctuary was needed. In 1956, our warm and inspiring sanctuary was erected and dedicated to the glory of God. Adjoining the sanctuary is a small, intimate chapel that is used regularly for private prayer and worship. To mark this new beginning, the name of our Church was officially changed to that of EMMANUEL UNITED CHURCH.
By a lucky fluke, this building was the first United Church building in Canada.
From the Border Cities Star, June 4, 1925:
On Wednesday, June 10, the day that Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Union becomes effective a new church of the Union will be opened on Lincoln Road in Walkerville. The Ottawa United Church, believed to be the only edifice in Canada to celebrate its opening on the official birthday of the union, will be formally dedicated Wednesday evening.
Another little known tidbit of Windsor’s past.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
View Comments
a regular sherlock holmes you are, Andrew ;)
hey look at that, like seven parking spots in the alley and a complete residential block all around it...hmmmm. seems like the roof on the back of the original structure has been somewhat altered as well, probly during the 50's reno. i'm not sure what it would be called, but it's the raised portion of the facade that extends above the roofline....know what i mean?
thanks for the post!
let's get this year goin!
Hi folks, - stumbled upon this web-site unintentionally while roaming around the web this afternoon, and pleased that i did! I like the design and style and colours, but I ought to point out that I'm having issues when it loads. I'm making use of Classilla 9 internet browser for mac, and the footer will not line up correctly. i'm convinced applied the equivalent design on a customer's web-site, but the menu seems all straight on mine. I have an idea the fault is with my outdated browser and I reckon that it's about time to update!
I found an old cook book compiled by the Ladies of the Women's Association of the Ottawa United Church, Walkerville, Ontario. Went on line to see if I could find out date its was printed. The Pastor's Name was Rec. C. R. Durrant, the Junior Church Leader was Mr. Frank Pithie and the caretaker was Mrs. Alfred Stone. Does anyone know when this cookbook was printed. No date in the book anywhere. Thanks for the help in advance.
Barbara: You could ask someone at Emmanuel:
emmanuelunited@kelcom.igs.net
http://www.emmanuelunited.org
Rev. Durrant was at Emmanuel (Ottawa) United church from 1926 to 1936. that narrows it down a bit.
Interesting that the 1925 Sunday School Hall, and original sanctuary, had a north-south orientation, while the new church added in 1956 had an east-west orientation. This was a common practice for Protestant Churches in Canada (especially Methodist, Presbyterian, and after Church Union in 1925, United) -- to construct a Sunday School Hall first with a temporary sanctuary, then to add a large purpose-built sanctuary later -- sometimes 20 to 40 years later, especially during the surge of church membership in the 1945 to 1965 era.