Georgetown
Glen Williams

A Brief History of St. John's


Georgetown was surrounded by "interminable wilderness" when the first circuit rider for the Wesleyan Methodist church came this way to preach in 1839. For years, these intrepid young preachers rode on horseback from village to village, preaching to waiting worshippers, all of them recent immigrants, assembled in homes and cottages. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson sparked a "great spiritual revival" in Williamsburg (Glen Williams) in 1840, and preached in Georgetown the following year.

We know that Benejah Williams deeded his Glen property over to the Methodist Episcopal congregation "with a shaky signature" in 1840. We also know that the Methodists bought this property on the "Norval Road" for 5 shillings in 1846. Both groups put up wood frame buildings; the Georgetown church also had a cemetery out back.

These Methodists addressed each other as Brother and Sister. They talked a lot about holiness, they loved to sing the hymns of Charles Wesley, Isaac Watt, and others, all of which they knew by heart, and they prayed passionately. Men sat on the left, women and children on the right. To take communion, you needed a special ticket signed by an elder, signifying your worthiness to attend the "love feast". Our archives contain two such tickets dated 1884, belonging to George and Margaret Kennedy.
 

**circa 1880?**
George Kennedy, whose family founded Georgetown, was on the building committee which raised $8000 and built the brick building we're in now, in 1880. There were 2 ministers, supported by 130 families. On Sundays, you attended a morning prayer meeting, then the worship service, Sunday School in the afternoon, and another service at night. The Ladies' Aid was up and running, and the sermon topic of the first anniversary service in 1881 was "Woman, Her Work and Worth."

In 1902, the Glen church celebrated "splendid improvements": bricking, electric lights, a new roof, interior decor including the three pulpit chairs still in use, and "seats of the latest design." A Baptist male quartet performed The Little Brick Church in the Glen for the occasion. The Willing Helpers served supper, and contributed $286 for renovations.
 
Membership in both congregations grew steadily. In 1925 Glen Williams church affiliated with the new United Church of Canada. The Georgetown congregation of over 300 was joined that same year by 120 more from Knox Presbyterian. Perhaps a few of the remaining Presbyterians took comfort when lightning toppled the tall spire over our west entry shortly afterwards. But Georgetown United was a busy place. There were 2 CGIT's, an Epworth League for young people, and an Argonaut Club, attended by a young Gordon Alcott.

Old photos of the sanctuary show the Union Jack and red ensign on the left, a central pulpit, 2 side aisles, and a huge pipe organ. Apparently the young fellow enlisted to pump it occasionally had to be wakened in his hiding place behind it, when it was time for another hymn.

In 1944, a major sanctuary renovation was financed with $11000 in donations, plus a bequest of about $3000 that was made back in 1925.

By 1949, as the nursery started to fill up with infant baby boomers, the church renamed itself St. John's, and added an assembly hall, stage, and kitchen.

 
In 1952, the stained glass windows were dedicated in memory of J.W. Kennedy.

In 1957, superintendent Ernie Forgrave reported an all-time-record Sunday School attendance of 321 children, who studied under 57 teachers.

In 1959 the Glen added a two-storey rear addition. When a stroke felled the Rev. Roy Irwin in 1965, student minister Tom Forgrave took over, apparently the only person ever ordained from either of our founding congregations.

 

**Congregation leaving St.John's United Church.
Headline read: "Easter Worshippers Pack Local Churches", April 26 1962**
In 1969, Georgetown renovated again, changing the organ, the choir loft, and the carpeting.

In 1971, a long-standing friendship was sealed when the Glen Williams and Georgetown church amalgamated to form one congregation with one governing board, shared staff, and two places of worship.

In 1977 we added a second storey above Celebration Hall in Georgetown, and in 1979 we bought back property from the school board when Chapel Street School behind us was demolished. This land had been sold to the school board in 1894 for for $175, when the old cemetery was moved. We bought it back for considerably more.
 

** Photographed by Eric Connolly. May 4, 1990**
Finally, in 1992 we renovated once again, bumping out the back of the building to add more space.

St. John's is more than bricks and windows. Today, a "cloud of witnesses" looks down upon us, all the men and women who worshipped and worked in and loved this church through all those years, and who then went out to make their community a better place.

The words of Rev. Bristol, who visited here in 1846, echo today: "Here we met with a large audience that throughout our meeting gave expression that they had hearts that felt for that portion of the human family who were in indigent circumstances, spiritual and temporal. But all this was nothing new to me. The members and friends in Georgetown are given to hospitality and noble mindedness."
 
www.stjohnsuc.ca     11 Guelph Street, Halton Hills (Georgetown) Ontario, L7G 3Z1     905 877 2531