The original 1903 building, designed by church architect George William Hall (1852- 1935), is one of the remaining iconic features of the Olde Town District in Stoney Creek, with it's historic bell tower peaking above the centre of Olde Town. Despite the gargatuan brick addition added to the front of the building in the 1960's, the intricate stained glass, arching windows, peaked roof and church bell tower still serve as beautifully defining features of the historic King and Lake intersection.

  

The congregation is one of the oldest in Canada. The original Stoney Creek chapel was the second protestant church built in western Upper Canada, in the year 1792.  Many settlers in the area began gathering in Stoney Creek and decided to construct a building where they could meet and worship. The first chapel building stood on what is now the cemetery located on the south west corner of Centennial Parkway and King Street East. People would travel from miles around to attend service at this church. The building was a simple wooden structure and was actually in the midst of the historic Battle of Stoney Creek in 1813. It was damaged in the battle and repaired after the war.

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"We were next ordered to Stoney Creek... In this place I saw a Methodist Chapel, the first I had seen in the country. It was converted into a barrack. The pulpit, altor and seats were torn down and mode into berths."

-from the Journal of George Ferguson, a solider in the War of 1812. 

 

As more modern and decorative churches were being erected in the area, attendance at the simplistic chapel declined and the building became neglected. It stood as ruin from 1860 until it was torn down in 1871. Only the fireplace remained until it too was demolished in the 1980's by William Nash.  A new church building was erected by the Episcopal congregation in 1869 on the north side of King St, just across from First St. S. and in 1889 the Wesleyan and Episcopal congregations united and both began attending the church at 8 King Street West. 

 

The congregation continued to grow and at a meeting in early 1903, John B. Smith & John B. Nash made a motion that a new church be built. The site of the former toll gate on the southwest corner of King Street and Lake Avenue was purchased from Mrs. Boden and members of the congregation enthusiastically assisted in the construction of the new church.

The building was a modified Romanesque design, by church architect George William Hall. The sanctuary provided seating for 250 and also included a basement with a central meeting room and six classrooms. One of the first babies baptized in the church was Florence Nash and the first wedding to take place in the new church was between Laura Smith and George Gage.

 

As attendance boomed in the 1950's and 60's additions were added to the building to accommodate the expanding congregation. The rear addition was added in 1953, and then in 1960, a new sanctuary that could accommodate up to 450 people was constructed around the majority of the remaining original structure.   

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A later addition was added to the east side of the building in the early 2000's, officially covering any of the remaining original structure at ground level. However, the remaining parts of the nearly 115 year old structure that peer over the historic intersections of Olde Town Stoney Creek still serve as an iconic defining feature of our neighbourhood.

 

SOURCES:

-The History of The Stoney Creek United Church by Milton Watson- An Address to the Stoney Creek Historical Society on Feb. 11, 1977

-Vintage Stoney Creek Facebook

-Stoney Creek Historical Society

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