St. Matthias Anglican Church

History of St Matthias

It was the vision of a group of devout Anglicans who met in early 1888 that led to the establishment of St. Matthias, named after the disciple chosen to succeed Judas as one of the twelve apostles. On May 20, 1888, it held its first service, not in a church, but in the dining room of Byers Hotel, located on the east side of what is now Wellington Manor, a high-rise senior citizens’ complex on Wellington Street in Hintonburg. Hintonburg was then a farming village and Ottawa a city that boasted a population of approximately 43,000.

The service was led by the Rev. George Jemmett, a graduate of the University of Durham, who had been the acting archdeacon of Antigua before immigrating to Canada with his family in 1870. In addition to conducting services at St. Matthias, Mr. Jemmett cared for the "cure of souls" in both Westboro and Britannia, travelling between congregations by horse and buggy.

A growing congregation led to the decision to rent Wilson’s Hall at the corner of Wellington Street and Carruthers Avenue for the munificent sum of $5.00 a month. This was followed, in 1890, by the purchase of lots 2 and 3 on the east side of Fairmont Avenue and the laying of the cornerstone for a new church on November 1, 1890. A large crowd attended the cornerstone service, which was conducted by Mr. Jemmett, assisted by the rectors of the five centre-town churches. Shortly after the cornerstone laying, Mr. Jemmett became seriously ill and on November 18, 1890, he died.

Jemmett’s death struck a heavy blow to the congregation, which now found itself without a spiritual leader and only a partially-completed church. Construction was temporarily halted, but services continued under the leadership of a lay reader. By February 1, 1891, however, the building’s shell was ready for use, and on that date 120 people attended the first service in the new structure. Finally, in 1904, the church’s interior was completed with finished walls, pulpit, pews, furnace, and electrical lighting.

In early 1909, the congregation made two important decisions: The first was to establish St. Matthias as a separate parish and the second was to purchase a rectory and several additional lots on Fairmont Avenue. The first decision bore fruit in July of that year when St. Matthias became independent of the Parish of Nepean.

In 1920, the church underwent further expansion. Primarily through the efforts of Canon W.A.E. Butler, then St. Matthias’s rector, a large Memorial Hall was erected at a cost $35,000, an enormous sum of money in 1920. Located on the south side of the church, it would provide space for a Sunday school, commemorate the 126 parishioners who served in the First World War, and serve as a memorial to the thirteen parishioners who gave their lives in the conflict. It was officially opened by the new Governor-General, Lord Byng of Vimy, on November 19, 1921, when Ottawa boasted a population of 107,843 and was the sixth largest city in Canada.

St Matthias’s congregation grew steadily over the years and by 1936, when the Rev. (later Canon) Cecil H. Roach succeeded Canon Butler, the building had become outdated. It had been designed to accommodate two hundred people but often 225 to 250 parishioners crowded into it, at some discomfort to late-comers. Consideration was therefore given to erecting a larger building on a different site — and this while the Great Depression still raged. Eventually, after much debate and soul-searching, the Parkdale location with a frontage of 270 feet was chosen. In accepting this move, the congregation faced an enormous challenge: At the end of 1937, total receipts for parochial purposes during the year totalled $4,488 and, after paying all expenses, there was a surplus of only $50.

John B. Roper, son of Archbishop J.C. Roper, was appointed church architect and plans were made to construct a building that would accommodate six hundred people. It was also decided that the total cost should not exceed $50,000. When tenders were received, however, it was evident that a fully-completed church would cost $55,000. Since a basement church could be built for approximately $23,000 the Vestry recommended that a basement church be constructed in limestone with a total cost not to exceed $30,000. This was intended to represent the first stage in the completion of the church as originally designed. On September 16, 1939, six days after Canada declared war on Germany, Archbishop Roper laid the cornerstone.

The first event in the new church was a dedication service held on Sunday, November 5, 1939. Services continued in the basement for the next ten years while Sunday school met in in the Memorial Hall ( it was later sold to Crawley Films) and in Connaught and Elmdale Schools. The intervention of the Second World War put a stop to construction, which did not resume until 1948. While the superstructure was being raised services were held in the Elmdale Theatre on Wellington Street, the first two services, held on Sunday, April 11, 1948, boasting impressive numbers. When construction was sufficiently advanced, regular worship returned to the basement. On Sunday, May 29, 1949, the first service was held upstairs, with a total attendance of 696 at the 11:00 a.m. service. The new church was formally dedicated on. November 2, 1949 by Bishop Robert Jefferson in the presence of approximately nine hundred laity and clergy.

The 1960s began with St. Matthias’s congregation facing still another dislocation, this time because of the building of the Queensway on the former CNR cross-town tracks. The route cut through the centre of the parish and required the relocation of approximately one hundred parish families. Included in the expropriations was a section of church property required for the construction of the entrance ramp to the Queensway. The demolition of Parkdale Avenue and its subsequent reconstruction from a point south of the rectory to Westmount Avenue resulted in the removal of the church’s front steps, making entrance through the front door impossible. This was a petty inconvenience, however, compared to the closing of many cross-track streets, which made church attendance difficult and, in some cases, hazardous. The result was a sharp decline in attendance and church income.

By 1970, however, the $125,000 mortgage was paid off and the church was consecrated by yet another bishop, the Right Rev. William J. Robinson, on Sunday, October 18, 1970. Three years earlier, Canon Roach had retired after serving St. Matthias for thirty-one years. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Baycroft. In 1984, after seventeen years of dedicated service, Canon Baycroft left St. Matthias to become Dean of Ottawa and subsequently Suffragan Bishop. In January 1986, Bishop Lackey appointed the Rev. John R.H, Fowler to succeed Canon Baycroft

St. Matthias marked its one hundredth anniversary in 1988. Its first hundred years saw it experience steady growth and the strengthening of its ministry in the Ottawa community. In nursing homes, in hospitals, and with shut-ins, church lay visitors shared pastoral ministries with the clergy. This ministry was extended in 1981, when the parish assumed responsibility for the overall pastoral care of all Anglican patients in the Civic Hospital, St. Matthias’s Altar Guild maintaining the chapel facilities for Anglican services at the Civic. Through its involvement with the Queensway Social Action Group, the parish took a leading role in the founding and operation of such activities as the Ottawa West Senior Citizens’ Association and the Parkdale Food Centre. The church also sponsored refugee families and many other outreach activities.

The beginning of this century saw the retirement of the Rev. John Fowler (2000) and the appointment of his successor, the Rev. Joan Riding, the present priest of St. Matthias. The population of Ottawa, like its geographical size, has continued to grow, reaching 870,250 by 2013. Regrettably, however, the congregation of St. Matthias, like that of so many other mainline churches, has shrunk in size. Nevertheless, three-quarters of a million dollars has been spent restoring the church’s fabric in the last decade in order to support its ministries. Much of this outlay has been made possible by the sale of Roughsedge House in 2004, the sale of the rectory in 2008, and fund-raising events such as the Proms, the twice-yearly flea markets, and Women Sharing’s Christmas sale.

On this anniversary, St. Matthias can look back with pride at the many challenges that it has faced and met in its first 125 years.  As it does so, however, it will realize that changing socio-economic patterns in the parish will provide still more challenges – and new opportunities for service – in the years to come.

Valerie Knowles