Endowing A Congregation

In November 1820 Rev. Harris chairs a meeting of local Presbyterians and other interested parties. They agree to form a committee to raise money to build a Presbyterian Meeting House in York, to cover the cost of supporting a minister, and for other related purposes. Well-to-do businessman and philanthropist Jesse Ketchum comes forward with an offer to provide a plot of land and to contribute toward the cost of building a church. On Christmas Day 1820, Ketchum and two other benefactors sign a document by which they promise in writing to provide land, money, and building materials.

1822

Building A Church

The new congregation is variously known as the “Presbyterian Church of York, Upper Canada,” the “Presbyterian Church of York”, and the “Presbyterian Congregation of York”, according to legal documents of the time. At first it meets in a brick potato house located on the property conveyed by Jesse Ketchum. In the summer of 1821 construction of a church begins. The first worship service takes place in the new building on February 18, 1822. It is an extremely plain brick structure, capable of seating 400 — this at a time when the total population of York numbers just over 1,200. While the cost of the building itself is covered by benefactors who provide cash or construction materials, the interior fittings — pews, pulpit and gallery — are paid for by the pew-holders. According to some accounts, Jesse Ketchum does the landscaping with his own hands. The church faces Hospital (now Richmond) St., which at this time is a more important thoroughfare than Lot (now Queen) St. Eventually a T-shaped wooden addition is built to house a Sunday school room. That portion of the property not required for church purposes is divided into lots and rented to outside parties on 21-year leases, the proceeds going toward support of the minister.

1822 Constitution

Among the provisions of the 1822 Constitution are:

• That pew-holders are to pay an annual rental of 16 shillings, due quarterly

• That at congregational meetings pew-holders are allowed multiple votes, depending on how many seats they rent

• That a Committee of five is to be elected annually by the congregation “to superintend the temporal affairs of this Congregation.”

Some of its responsibilities are:

• “To agree with the Minister as to his salary, and see that it be paid.”

• To appoint one among their number as Collector, whose duty it is to collect the pew rents

• “To see that good order is observed during the time of divine service.”

• “To keep the key of the Church and see that it be opened at a suitable time, and that it be kept clean.”

• That any pew-holder who declines to serve when chosen as Collector or member of the Committee must pay a fine of 25 shillings.

Rev. Harris is officially ordained as Pastor on July 10 by a committee appointed by the Presbytery of Brockville, who had sustained a call of the congregation. Rev. William Jenkins of Richmond Hill and St. Andrew’s, Scarborough, serves as Moderator.

The first communion is dispensed on September 14 by Rev. Harris, assisted by Rev. Jenkins. Present are 28 members.

The Duchess Street Burial Ground

In 1824, the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of York — including Jesse Ketchum — sign a petition to the Executive Council of Upper Canada requesting that the “Gore between Lots Number Four and Five on the North side of Duchess Street containing about half an acre of land” be granted to them for use as a burial ground. The petition states that the land in question had been used as a cemetery for “upwards of twenty years” and that the Presbyterians had been burying their dead there for the latter part of this period. The transfer is officially completed in March 1825. The cemetery is bounded on the south by Duchess St. (now Richmond St. E.), on the north by Britain St., and on the east by what is now Stonecutter’s Lane, just west of modern-day Sherbourne St.

1) Location of original Knox Church, on present-day Queen St. between Bay and Yonge

2) Location of the Duchess St. Burial Ground

St. Andrew’s Church

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is founded in 1830. Until this time, the Presbyterian Church of York had been the only congregation of that denomination in the community.

The Disruption

In Scotland, there is a longstanding dispute over the ability of the state to assert authority over the church. Specifically, the government insists on the right of persons of influence (“lay patrons”) to install ministers of their choice in Church of Scotland parishes, regardless of the wishes of the congregation. By the 1840s over 40% of Church of Scotland congregations have lost the right to call their own ministers. Evangelicals within the Church of Scotland have protested this for many years. At stake is the issue of spiritual independence — whether the Presbyterian Church should be a self-governing body professing Jesus Christ as its only acknowledged Head. Several cases are brought before the Scottish courts, and in each instance the verdict supports the lay patrons. On May 23, 1843, a split occurs when the retiring Moderator, Dr. David Welsh, leads 171 ministers and 72 elders out of the Church of Scotland General Assembly to form the Free Church of Scotland. Dr. Thomas Chalmers becomes the first Moderator of the new body. Of the 1200 ministers of the Church of Scotland, 474 eventually adhere to the Free Church. This split in the Scottish Presbyterian Church (the “Disruption”) has powerful repercussions in Canada.

1844

Knox College

As a result of the schism in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, a number of theological students leave Queen’s College in Kingston because it continues to adhere to the Church of Scotland. The defectors become the nucleus of a Theological Institution which holds classes at the home of Rev. Henry Esson on James St. in Toronto. Two years later the organization changes its name to Knox College.

1845

Among Canadian Presbyterians there is considerable interest in Scottish church affairs, especially among recently-arrived immigrants from the "Auld Country."  Support for the principles of the Scottish Disruption is strong.  The Free Church of Scotland sends a delegation of five leading ministers on a tour of the northeastern U.S. to raise funds and justify its theological principles.  Among these is Dr. Robert Burns of Paisley, already well-known in Canadian church circles for his work as Secretary of the Glasgow Colonial Society, which sought to encourage Presbyterian clergy and lay missionaries to immigrate to Canada.  Invited to extend his itinerary into British North America, Dr. Burns commences a two-month Canadian speaking tour in April 1844, which will take him from Niagara Falls to Halifax.  The trip is a great success, Dr. Burns attracting large audiences wherever he speaks.

1847-48

Fire & the Second Knox Church

The first Knox church building is totally destroyed by fire on May 31, 1847. Only the pulpit is saved, which will later be used in the basement of the replacement edifice. Dr. Burns is in Halifax on a mission trip but hurries home and with characteristic zeal drives the necessary work forward. On June 4, a congregational meeting is held at which it is resolved to press ahead with the building of a replacement building. On July 19, the architect, William Thomas, presents plans for the new church. The foundation stone is laid on Sept. 21. In the meantime, the congregation worships first at St. Andrew’s Church until the middle of July, and then at the Temperance Hall on Temperance St.

• • •

The new church building opens on Sept. 3, 1848. This building is much larger than its predecessor and faces onto Queen St. Writing in the 1880’s, journalist J. Ross Robertson describes the second church building as “a plain brick structure, with the old-fashioned, high, square-backed pews both on the gallery and main floor, arranged in stiff­, formal manner straight across the church. The only ornamental portion of the room was the pulpit and its oak and walnut canopy . . . a most ornate and artistic piece of workmanship; the canopy with its pinnacles and graceful gothic lines being especially noteworthy.”