Ralph Connor Memorial United Church (Canmore)
| Ralph Connor Memorial United Church | |
|---|---|
 Lieu patrimonial du Canada |
|
| Recognized since | 1983 |
| Type | Provincial Historic Resource |
| ID | 10413 |
| place | Canmore |
| Coordinates | 51 ° 5 '20.9 " N , 115 ° 21' 25.8" W |
| Recognized by | Alberta Province |
| Approved by | Historical Resources Act |
| Entry Canadian List of Monuments | |
The Ralph Connor Memorial United Church is a church building of the United Church of Canada in the Canadian city of Canmore, Alberta .
history
After the region around Canmore was opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the first coal mine began operating in 1887, various Christian denominations began to show presence in the village. In July 1890, the Presbyterian clergyman Charles Gordon arrived at the place. He received $ 200 through his church in Calgary to begin building a house of worship. The inauguration service of the new church, which took up neo-Gothic style elements, could already be celebrated in January 1891. As part of an inauguration ceremony, for which a festival parish traveled by special train, enough donations could be raised so that the new parish no longer had any debts from the construction of the building.
In Canmore's early days, the church was also rented to the Anglicans for a symbolic dollar a year for their services until they completed their St. Michael's Church on Veterans Way. The Lutherans also celebrated services here. Charles Gorden himself stayed in Canmore until 1894. He later became a major advocate for the creation of the Church Union in Canada of Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists , which finally came officially in 1925. The Canmore ward also joined the new United Church. Gordon had in the meantime also gained notoriety through his writing work under the pseudonym Ralph Connor . In 1941, the Canmore Congregation decided to rename the church Ralph Connor Memorial United Church in his honor .
literature
- Mary Oakwell: Many Foundations. Historic Churches of Alberta , Victoria 2006.