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Wall Street United Church is both a building and a Christian community in Brockville, Ontario.
We are a worshipping and sharing community that began with the First British Loyalists who formed the Methodist Church on this site. Well before the first chapel was built in 1830, Methodism was already vibrant and strong in Eastern Ontario.
The Methodist Church, in both its Episcopal and Wesleyan phases, as well as the Presbyterian, Congregational and Evangelical United Brethren Churches, have contributed to the evolution of today's United Church of Canada.
Wall Street United Church is situated on the Court House Green, overlooking the beautiful shimmering St. Lawrence River.
Wall Street Methodist Church was enlarged in 1863 by a Gothic Tower. A major reconstruction occured in 1896 with a new Sanctuary and organ.
In 1960, Fellowship Hall was added; the ramp leading into the hall in 1990.
Our church is an historic landmark in Brockville. But the church is not a building; the church is people who have a living faith commitment to the present.
This oil lamp was found in the dirt floor of the basement beneath the sanctuary. It was used by the early members of the congregation before electricity and can serve as a symbol of the present generation carrying forward the light of our Christian faith.
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The Meaning of These Stones: The Life and Times of Wall Street United Church, Brockville, Ontario by Mary Beacock Fryer, J. William Lamb and Larry Turner, 1997; Edgar Clow and Douglas A. Grant, Coordinating Editors
This is a fascinating story of the first 160 years of Wall Street United Church. Copies are available from the Church office.
The Meaning of These Stones commemorates the 1996 centenary of the sanctuary of Wall Street United Church. But the book's 22 chapters document much more than stones and mortar over merely one century. They are a wide-ranging, multi-dimensional celebration of the first 169 years of a Methodist/United Church congregation that has always been directly and very vitally engaged with its community and society. Some topics:
- the "heroic age" : itinerant ministers in the 18th and early 19th centuries
- the first chapel in Elizabethtown Township, at Lyn --- our "parent church"
- the first chapel at Brockville, our "Temple on the Green" in 1830
- a "Lyon" at our chapel door
- music and musicians at Wall Street
- camp grounds and camp meetings, and the Park and Pearl Street missions
- from Neoclassical "temple" to Neo-Gothic church, 1862
- the "Akron-plan" sanctuary of 1896
- adapting to an urban-industrial 20th century
- outreach to youth, and the rise of women's organizations
- the sharp challenges of WWI, the Great Depression and WWII
- Church Unions, local and national
- the prosperous 1950s and the troubled 1960s
- Restructuring, and evangelical recommitment
- on the verge of our 21st century There are 96 black-and-white illustrations. Three appendices provide information about ministers, commemorative inscriptions, and historical demographics. There is also a comprehensive index of personal names.
Some comments on this book:
Fascinating how the story of 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century Canada is woven through[out].... This book will contribute to a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped us, the commitment and faithful service that have sustained us, and the ways in which the Holy Spirit has inspired us.
------ The Very Reverend Dr. Marion Best, Moderator of the United Church of Canada
Though it has been more than fifty years since I and my family were a part of the story, I found myself intrigued by reminders of those years.... I commend the authors for their fair and balanced approach.
------ The Very Reverend Robert F. Smith, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, Vancouver
Familiarity with... one significant congregation can give insight into the present situation of the whole Canadian church that no amount of abstract generalizing can give....Most readers will resonate with references to efforts to meet the spiritual needs of pioneers... [and] to more recent struggles to cope with a falling birthrate and a fading piety....
------- John Webster Grant, Professor Emeritus of Emmanuel College, Toronto
I am delighted.... Typically Upper Canadian.... For clergy and lay people who ministered and served, and for this remarkable account of bygone days and our happiness together, we are deeply grateful.
-------- Col. The Hon. John Ross Matheson, UE, K. St. J., CD, MA, LL.D., MP for Leeds 1961- 1968, Rideau Ferry, Ont.
Detailed, concise... You will recognize a large number of family names... an excellent description ...
-------- Dr. Adrien G. Ten Cate, Brockville historian
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