ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH (EPISCOPAL)
Presbyterian missions are: Nazareth Street Mission, corner of Wellington and Nazareth streets; St. Paul’s Mission, 184 St. Charles Street.
THE METHODISTS
The first chapel of the Wesleyan Methodists, opened in 1809, was situated on St. Joseph Street, afterwards called St. Sulpice. In 1821 the Congregation moved to the corner of St. François Xavier and St. James streets, when the old chapel became the first public newsroom of Montreal. In 1845 the Great St. James Street Methodist Church was erected with an entrance on St. James Street and two on Fortification Lane. This church was burnt down. In the meantime a Methodist church had been erected in Griffintown, called the Ottawa Street Church, on Wellington Street, close to where Duke Street now stands. This was also burnt down and it was replaced in 1846 by the church on the corner of St. Ann and Ottawa streets. In 1845 another church was opened on Lagauchetière Street, at the corner of Durham Street. In 1857, in August, the new Connexion Methodist Salem Chapel on Panet Street was opened, followed on September 26, 1858, by Ebenezer Chapel, on Dupré Street. In 1864, there was a movement, for expansion among the Wesleyan Methodist body, which had for its result the Sherbrooke Street Church, corner of St. Charles Borromee and Sherbrooke Street, West, of which the foundation stone was laid on July 5, 1864, and the opening occurred on May 21, 1865. The foundation stone of the Dorchester Street Church, corner of Windsor Street and the Point St. Charles Church on Wellington Street, were laid on Saturday, October 1, 1864. The Centenary Methodist Church was built in 1865 at the corner of Wellington Street and was rebuilt in 1891 at the corner of Charron and Wellington streets.
The other Methodist churches in the city are, St. James Methodist Church (St. Catherine Street, corner of St. Alexander Street); Mountain Street Methodist Church (corner of Mountain and Torrance Street); Douglas Methodist Church (corner of Chomedy and St. Catherine Street, West); Dominion Square Methodist Church (Dorchester Street, corner of Windsor); West End Methodist Church (corner of Canning and Coursel Street); East End Methodist Church (corner Cartier and DeMartigny streets); Fairmount Avenue Methodist Church (corner of Hutchison Street and Fairmount Avenue, West); Marlborough Street Methodist Church; Mount Royal Avenue Methodist Church; Ebenezer Methodist Church (corner of St. Antoine and Convent streets); Westmount Methodist Church (corner of Lansdowne Avenue and Western Avenue); Verdun Methodist Church (86 Gordon Avenue, Verdun); Huntley Street Methodist Church (Huntley Street near St. Zotique Street); First French Methodist Church (services held in the lecture room of St. James Methodist Church); and Eglise Méthodiste Française (De Lisle Street).
In giving the above list of churches it has not been thought necessary to pursue the later history of their separate cessions, or off-shoots from the parent churches. It is sufficient to note that on August 29, 1883, at Belleville, Ontario, the Methodist Church of Canada, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, the Protestant Methodist Church in Canada and the Bible Christian church of Canada, united and became the Methodist Church of Canada.
BAPTIST CHURCHES
As early as 1820,[1] a number of Baptists in the city met in the parlour of the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Muir “for the worship of God and mutual edification” each Lord’s day for ten consecutive years. In 1830, they invited the Rev. John Gilmour of Aberdeen, Scotland, to come to Canada and lead the little flock into larger fields.
On the 12th day of September of the same year, two days after landing, Mr. Gilmour, missionary of God, preached his first sermon to his new charge in this new land in what was then known as the Bruce Schoolroom on McGill Street.
This little band opened their new chapel, situated on St. Helen Street and completed at the cost of £935-0-1 of which £572-10-9 were paid before its opening, leaving a debt of £362-9-4 due to two of their own members, John Fry and Ebenezer Muir, in equal parts of £181-4-8 each. On the 13th day of November, 1831, the First Baptist Church was regularly organized in this building with twenty-five constituent members. A marble tablet placed on the wall of Gault Bros’ wholesale establishment on St. Helen Street bears the following inscription:—