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NELSON UNITED CHURCH
"We dare to live the Way of Jesus,
Embodying the Love of God"
ST. PAUL’S PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
First Presbyterian Church
The “First Presbyterian Church” on the corner of Victoria and Kootenay Streets was dedicated in June 1892 and renamed “St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church” in 1897.
The Congregational Church constructed a building on the corner of Silica and Stanley Streets in 1898, which was known as “St. Paul’s Church.” (The building, after going through several incarnations, is now the Evangelical Covenant Church.)
St. Paul's Church
In 1912, the Presbyterian Church purchased this building, and in November 1912, the original “First Presbyterian Church” was sold to the First Church of Christ, Scientists.
Following the Church Union in 1925 (creating The United Church of Canada), however, a small number from the Presbyterian congregation chose to re-purchase the original Presbyterian building and rename it “First Presbyterian Church.”
The historic building on the corner of Victoria and Kootenay Streets continued to serve as Trinity Presbyterian Church until 2010. Today, the building has been sold to a private enterprise.
In 1867, gold and silver were found in the area and Salisbury (as the town of Nelson was then called) grew quickly as a result of the frantic mining activity. Our Church history begins in the year 1888, when John A. McDonald, a Presbyterian student minister from Queens College, Kingston, Ontario, having traveled by boat, pony, and on foot, preached the Gospel to some twenty people in a tent. Although his visit only lasted a couple days, he paved the way for Rev. Thomas Rogers who, in 1891, held services in the sitting-room of the International Hotel and then in rooms on the 2nd floor of the R.E. Lemon General Store.
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