St. George's Anglican Church                         St. Paul's Anglican Church
                Battleford, Saskatchewan                      North Battleford, Saskatchewan
ST. GEORGE'S ANGLICAN CHURCH - HISTORY

Our history starts towards the end of the year 1876. Bishop MacLean and Reverend John A. MacKay, were on a missionary journey from Prince Albert to Edmonton and camped on the Battle River Flats. The Government House was in the process of construction and so these pioneer missionaries held the first divine service for the workmen, in the telegraph office on the flats, New Year's Day, 1877.

The following September, Rev. MacKay returned to Battleford with Thomas Clarke and by December 6th, 1878 had built the school house and a community hall. Here Reverend MacKay preached in English in the morning and Cree in the afternoon while Reverend Peter Straith, Presbyterian Minister, conducted the Sunday evening service. When the new townsite was begun, and in the same community spirit of sharing the Church of England rented the Presbyterian building for their services, paying $2.00 a Sunday. They also held services at the Barracks on Sunday evenings or at St. John's Parish, located at the Indian Industrial School until leasing Clouston's Hall in 1885. They hewed logs out of the bush and built a house on a site donated to the Church Missionary Society. Soon after a parish was formed and given the name of St. John's. A log church was built. In 1879, Rev. MacKay was called to the teaching staff of Emmanuel College at Prince Albert, and the work was continued by Reverend Thomas Clarke. During the 1885 uprising, burial services were conducted in the Church for those of the Anglican Communion who died at the Battle of Cut Knife Hill and on the Swift Current Trail.

Reverend J.F. Pritchard came to work in the Battleford area. He moved into the log house and organized the parish on a broader basis, and it became known as
St. George's Parish.

This Church (St. George's Anglican Church) was being built in 1885 on 19th Street, by Wm. H. Smart and R.C. Macdonald at a cost of $2,200.00. Although a fund had been started in 1882 to build a Church, it was not until February of 1886 that the congregation was asked to pick a name for the Parish so property could be purchased. By March 1st they decided to name it St. George's and building commenced in June on the west side of Central Avenue, a short distance to the south of the Hudson's Bay Store. The Gothic wood frame building, measuring 26 by 40 feet, with a chancel of 16 by 18 feet and would seat 100 people. In keeping with Anglican tradition at that time, it had a Lychgate tower in front of it. The exterior was finished with tongue and groove cedar siding, the interior lathed and plastered and a floor fashioned of two-inch thick fir planking. The alter and a carved root screen separated the chancel from the main body of the Church and were made and donated by the North West Mounted Police stationed at the Fort. The pews, lectern and pulpit were made by an early Battleford cabinet maker, George H. Clouston. The organ was purchased for $200.00 and boasted as the finest in the country, while the 200 pound Church bell, formerly used at the Mission Station at Fort Pitt, was a gift from Reverend Charles Quinny. Bishop John McLean & Wife
Bishop John McLean & Wife The first service in it was held July of 1886 with the first Bishop of Saskatchewan, Bishop John MacLean as preacher.
For more information on Bishop MacLean click on this button.

The First Minister was Reverend J.P. Pritchard, who conducted the opening of the Church service on October 10th, 1886.

At this time the town was located along the Battle River and around the site of the N.W.M.P.(North West Mounted Police) barracks. Some of the Mounties connected with the Fort were members of the congregation and contributed their share towards the establishing of the parish. They donated their labour in the erection of the building, and it is believed they were responsible for the making of the pews. It must have been a very colourful sight when they held a Church parade to the Anglican Church. Rebellion days are commemorated by a large brass tablet erected on the south wall by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire to the memory of the North-West Field Force which included the Mounted Police. A marble tablet is erected on the same wall in memory of Bernard Tremont, a telegraph operator, who was killed by the Indians in the Rebellion of 1885. A Memorial to the many others killed in the Rebellion occupied a place of honour on the south wall as did a plaque honouring Patrick Gammie Laurie, a long-time member of the Church and founder of the Territories' first newspaper, the Saskatchewan Herald. The history of the settling of the west is tied up closely with the establishing of St. George's.

Bishop W.C. Pinkham

In 1882 Mr. Pinkham was appointed Archdeacon of Manitoba and a residentiary Canon of St. John's Cathedral, and also secretary of the Diocesan Synod, a position that he held until he left Winnipeg in 1887. After his consecration, Bishop Pinkham left for his diocese towards the end of August, visiting Swift Current and Battleford where he held his first confirmation. The second Bishop of Saskatchewan, the Right Reverend William Cyprian Pinkham, administered both dioceses, as Bishop of Saskatchewan with Calgary, until 1904, when he became first bishop of Calgary.
The Church was consecrated on December 4th, 1887 by Bishop Pinkham. Reverend E. K. Matheson, who had laboured with such devotion at St. Catherine's, and then organized the Church at Lethbridge, was appointed to St. George's Church, Battleford. Reverend Edward Matheson was appointed incumbent in June 1888. It is interesting to note that one of the missions he had was Saskatoon. St. George's has the honor of being the oldest Church in the Diocese of Saskatoon.

A beautiful stone font, made by Mr. Sam Hooper in 1889, proudly acclaimed as the first of its kind "made off line of railway" stood at the front of the Church. In 1893 a stained glass Rose window above the alter was didicated in memory of Robert C. Wyld, a former North West Mounted Policeman and pioneer farmer. The Gothic windows were replaced with tri-coloured glass in memory of the first four bishops of the diocese and the first incumbents Rev. Prichard and Canon E.K. Matheson. The altar, doors, pews and other fittings all bear brass name plates dedicated to many other pioneers who worshiped here. On the west wall was a watercolour of the Church, as it appeared on 19th Street, painted by Gladys Lindemere, wife of Richard Lindemere.

In 1906, the rectory was built on property adjoining the church. A bell was sent to the church from friends in England. This was place in the gate which stood at the entrance of the church grounds. During the years the location of the town changed. Houses were moved from the river flats to higher ground, most of the folk who had lived near the Fort moved away and St. George's Church was no longer in the center of the community. In 1920 a store was purchased to be used as a Parish Hall. It of course was in the town and the Church was by then on the outskirts.

In the year 1936 the Church was celebrating its Golden Jubilee. and Mrs. Matheson gave the home that she and Canon Matheson had lived in to be used as a Rectory. A tablet commemorating the pastorate of Canon Matheson is on the north wall of the chancel. The parish now had its church on the outskirts, a Parish Hall near the business section, and the Rectory on the Main street. It was decided to sell the old Rectory and move the Church to property adjoining the Parish Hall. This move was made in the spring of 1945. The next step was the erection of a bell tower connectiong the Church and Parish Hall. This was completed and dedicated in memory of Mrs. Matheson, in 1946, the year of the Diamond Jubilee. Many of the church furnishings have been given as memorials.

In 1950 the rood screen was removed and in 1967 the original pews and the pipe organ, bought in 1989, were replaced. A support beam was added to the Church as well as insulation. The large furnace, with one central floor grille, was replaced with a gas furnace and ducts, and a kitchen and bathrooms were built in the hall.

In 1954, the Parish Hall was needing replacement. The old building was removed and construction started on a new hall built to conform to the appearance of the church. See Photo above. St. George's Church was declared a Historical Site in 1982.

The reconsecration of the Anglican cemetery connected with the Battleford Industrial School was marked by a special ceremony. The school, a federal residential institution for Indian children was operated from 1883 to 1914 under the administration of the Anglican Church. Before housing the school, the building contained the offices of the territorial capital and the cemetery may have been in use before the school opened and after it closed. Seventy-four people, most of them students who attended the school, are buried in the cemetery, although records have been found for only some 50 of them. The restored cemetery was rededicated at a special ceremony planned on Sunday, August 31, 1975. A cairn has been erected bearing plaques identifying the cemetery and containing the names of the people known to be buried there and space for any other names that come to light. The Saskatchewan Department of Tourism and Renewable Resources is installing an historic sites plaque. Professor Patrick Hartney, a human biologist with the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, was consultant for the project, which was conducted with the co-operation of representatives of the Indian Cultural Centre, the Anglican Diocese, the Battlefords community, the Oblate Order, and the Saskatchewan Archives, and with the approval of the Office of the Attorney General. The land apparently was never legally registered as a cemetery and long ago became dilapidated and was subjected to vandalism. However, based on archival research, surface examination and excavation, the students mapped the area and erected a chain-link fence marking the boundaries. Each unmarked grave was identified, assigned a number and excavated and the contents were uncovered, identified and recorded. The graves and their contents were covered over again and a marble marker with a burial identification number was placed at each gravesite.
Officiating at the ceremony were: Right Reverend D. A. Ford, Bishop of Saskatoon; Dr. D. Whitbread of North Battleford; Rev. D. Wooden of St. Paul's Anglican Church, North Battleford; and Rev. D. McLean of St. George's Anglican Church, Battleford. The ceremony opened with the singing of two hymns. "For ever with the Lord" and "Shall we gather at the River", after which the congregation processed around the cemetery chanting a Litany. Gathering around the cairn "The Lord's My Shepherd" was sung and a former student of the school, James Buller of North Battleford, sang two hymns to the tune of "Amazing Grace" in Cree. Edwin Semaganis of Poundmaker Indian Reserve, representing the Indian people said to Bishop Ford, "Reverend Father in God, we beg you to re-consecrate this ground, which has been for a long time a burial ground for our people." Bishop Ford replied, "By virtue of our sacred office, we do set apart this ground, and, marking it with the symbol of our most holy faith, hereby re-consecrate it as the resting place of the bodies of the faithful."
Facing the commemoration cairn, Bishop Ford said, "In the faith of Jesus Christ, and in remembrance of all who have been buried in this graveyard and in thankfulness to those who have restored it, we dedicate this cairn, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
This was followed by the reading of the Scripture in both Cree and English. The Scripture lesson, Revelation of St. John the Divine 21:1-7, was read in Cree by Mr. Charlie Soonias of Red Pheasant Indian Reserve, and in English by Rev. G. Zimmer of the Oblate Order of the Roman Catholic Church at St. Charles Scholasticate. Prayers were offered by Mrs. Annie Stone of Mosquito Indian Reserve on behalf of all those present and Miss Carlson of the OFY group also gave her blessings. In his closing address, Bishop Ford made reference to the purpose of the ceremony, saying the burial ground had been re-dedicated, blessed and hallowed.

The old St. George's Church was in great need of replacement, so, for the year 1999, it was decided to tear down the old church and build a new one.
THIS PHOTO - shows the removal of the Bell from the tower.
The stained glass windows and many other items were removed and stored to make way for the demolition and removal of the old church and parish hall.








Cleaning up after Demolition . . Construction July 9,2000 . . Construction July 23, 2000

October 30, 2000 the ACW (Anglican Church Women) held their first meeting in the new Parish Hall.
MEMORIALS

The Rebellion days are commemorate by a large brass tablet erected on the south wall by the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, to the memory of the North West Field Force, which included the North West Mounted Police.

A marble tablet is erected on the same wall in memory of Barnard Tremont, telegraph operator, who was a victim of the conflict.

There is a brass tablet in memory of Patrick Gammie Laurie, a member of the first building committee, and the founder of The Saskatchewan Herald, the first newspaper west of Winnipeg.

On the wall of the Chancel is a tablet commemorating the pastorate of Canon E.K. Matheson, second incumbent of the parish.

A circular stained glass window was inserted in the wall, together with two brass vases to commemorate Robert Wyld, a veteran in the NWMP, and Captain in the North West Forces in 1885, and a member of the first Vestry of St. George's Church.

The altar was donated by Harry C. Adams, in memory of his mother. The drapes were given by Mrs. R.F. Taunt, and the Pulpit, by Mr. Gately.

The screen and pews were a gift of the North West Mounted Police.

An old Communion Rail, made by Indian boys of the Industrial School in Battleford, can be seen in the parish church.

Lights in the Cancel were installed as a gift from the Senior W.A. in memory of Miss Ann Robinson.

The Hymn boards, donated by Mrs. Frank Laycock, commemorate the long service to the church of Mrs F.A.D. Bourke.

A new Communion Rail, installed in 1954, the gift of the congregation, is in memory of Reverend George Brooks.

On the wall is a framed list of those from the parish who served in the First Great War. One hundred and five names are shown, twelve of whom paid the supreme sacrifice.


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Appended
May 18, 08
4:00 p.m.