Westminster Presbyterian Church is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend.
The church’s congregation has been led by Reverends John and Charlene Wilson for the last 18 years.
The couple met at Knox College – the University of Toronto’s seminary – and later married.
John is a Kirkland Lake native while Charlene comes from Arthur, a small community north of Guelph.
The congregation has approximately 120 members.
“It's been bigger. COVID was tough but we're still here after COVID, which is a wonderful encouragement," Charlene told SooToday.
"We're here, we're open and we're celebrating this 100th anniversary.”
Westminster parishioners will mark the milestone this Sunday at 11 a.m. with an anniversary sermon given by Reverend Christine O'Reilly of Thedford, a small southwestern Ontario community, followed by a luncheon at the Grand Theatre.
The luncheon is a ticketed event.
Much of the sanctuary is wooden and the space is brighter than many other church sanctuaries.
“Architecturally, the builders felt that if you used pure elements, the closer you were to the purity of the gospel, so they used a lot of wood, stone and brick, but predominantly wood,” John said.
The sanctuary has room for a choir and includes a piano and pipe organ.
“I really like it. It has good acoustics. It has a warm feeling. It's a lovely sanctuary,” Charlene said.
The church includes a series of nine stained glass windows portraying the life of Christ designed by local artist Barb Fournier and constructed by Laureen and Allen Wells in the 1990s.
“I like the fact that the stained glass windows are not as dark as in other churches of the same vintage so it lets a lot of light in. It’s a brighter church,” John said.
Presbyterians first gathered in Sault Ste. Marie in 1866, nine years before The Presbyterian Church in Canada was formed in 1875.
A group of local Presbyterians – discontented with the merging of many Presbyterians and Canadian Methodist Church members into the United Church of Canada – left the original congregation and began building Westminster Presbyterian Church on Brock Street in 1925.
The property on which the church stands was purchased for $5,000.
Services were held in the Algoma Theatre until the new church building opened.
In May 1926, the cornerstone for Westminster Presbyterian Church was laid and the first service was held Oct. 24, 1926.
Two Scottish immigrants – Claude Alexander Findlay and James Foulis – were its architects.
The church building was later expanded to include a hall that currently serves as home to Westminster’s Bargain Box.
Open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday and accessible from a door facing Brock Street, the Bargain Box is a large room filled with donated summer and winter clothing, dishes, cutlery, cups, mugs and furniture available for sale at low prices.
Buyers can purchase a pair of pants for $1 and shirts for as little as $2.
A couch can be purchased for $50.
People line up on Brock Street to get into the Bargain Box every Wednesday.
Money raised at the thrift shop goes to various social agencies including St. Vincent Place, the Community Wellness Bus, the Soup Kitchen Community Centre, Harvest Algoma, SOYA, the Salvation Army Community and Family Services Centre and the Sault Ste. Marie Humane Society.
“I think the witness of Presbyterians in the Sault and of Westminster has been significant. We’re certainly proud to represent so many people with such a strong history in Sault Ste. Marie,” John said.