Old St Thomas Church

Church in the Afternoon, 2010

St Thomas Anglican church, built 1822-1824, in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. Photographed in late afternoon May 16, 2010.

The church was founded on land donated by Captain Daniel Rapelje, the founder of St. Thomas. It is considered to be an early example of North American pioneer architecture. The church was completed in 1824 and the tower was added in 1825 with the aid of Col. Thomas Talbot.

The first incumbent, the Rev. Alexander Mackintosh, served from 1824 to 1829, was also the village’s schoolmaster. The congregation began with only 12 parishioners in 1825 but quickly grew to 41 by 1827. In 1833 the church was consecrated.

By 1840, the church was enlarged. In 1877 the church congregation moved to the Trinity Anglican church in St. Thomas were it gathers still today.

By 1982 the church site was made an Ontario heritage site and in 1986 the church was restored and renovated.

The church is surrounded by a pioneer cemetery with many notable grave sites both nationally recognized and locally significant. The oldest grave site is that of Daniel Rapelje’s son George in 1819; the newest are modern. Nationally significant sites include that of Judge Hugh Richardson, who in 1885 sentenced Louis Reil to death.

Locally significant folklore tells of the story of the witch’s grave, the Irish family curse of the Crisholm family where 7 family members died within 7 years, and that of Canadian soldier Octavius Wallace, who fought in the American Civil War as a corporal of the 24th Regiment, Michigan Volunteers, and died at the Battle of Williamsburg in 1862.


Info via Wikipedia. - with some minor grammatical tweaks.


Mike