History of St. Thomas
In the Beginning (1919-1952)The Parish of St. Thomas the Apostle had its beginning, shortly after World War I, as a mission charge under Trinity Church, Ottawa South. The incumbent was Mr. Thomas G. Acres, a layreader, who became ordained as a deacon on May 6, 1927 and priest in 1932. This tiny farming community on Sawmill Creek, south of Billings Bridge, was part of a three point charge, along with St. James, Leitrim and St. Georges, Hawthorne. It became known as Ellwood, when the railroad named Ellwood Station after two families, the Ellises and the Woods. Services were initially held in Ellwood School.
A parcel of land, on the south east corner of Bank and Portland, was donated by Mr. John Smyth (of Smyth Road), to Trinity Church as a future church building site. When Trinity Church had outgrown its facilities, it decided to construct a new church on its existing property. Consequently, at a special vestry of Trinity in November 1926, the parish donated its original church building, along with the Bank Street property, to the Ellwood congregation. Our sod turning ceremony was held in April 1927, and with volunteer labour, the original Trinity Church was dismantled and reassembled on the new property with the new name "St. Thomas the Apostle". In November, 1927, the congregation began holding services in the church hall, which was located in the roofed-over basement. The volunteers finally completed the church on May 11, 1930. The cornerstone of our new church came from the original Trinity Church and carried the date of 1867. It was re-laid by the Bishop on July 31, 1928 with the new inscription, "St. Thomas 1927" on its reverse side. In 1932 our average church attendance was 33 people weekly and the annual givings were $186.79.
The incumbents during these early years included the Reverends: T.G. Acres, J.A. Seabrook, Wm. Westell, Capt. F.N. Gooch, J. Gregory Lee, Robert Shannon and Herbert Ritchie. These incumbents had numerous assistants over the years. It is of interest to note that the Rev. J.W.R. Meakin came to St. Thomas’ in 1927 as a student, then his son, Allan, came to the parish to serve as a student in the summers of 1950 and 51. Consequently, the Rev. Canon Meakin, has the distinction of being the only person to serve the parish both as a student and then as its rector (1985-93). He also began and concluded his active ministry in this parish!
Custodial duties have always been an integral part of our parish life. In the early years, these duties were often performed by the clergy, the organists, members of the Ladies Guild, the wardens or other officers. It was noted that Milton Stinson, when still a boy, did the floor, shovelled coal and pumped the organ for our first organist and choir leader, T.V. Simcoe. Later when Milton was 20, he became our youngest Rector's Warden. In the mid 1930s a family rotation plan was developed to clean the church. In the 1950s the Men's Club underwrote the stipend and Mr. Henry Girard assumed the sexton duties until his retirement in 1973.
The wardens in these early years included: George Cutts, E. Clifford, B. Lough, Albert E.H.Bennett, Harold Clark, Albert Mockett, F. Broad, Victor Clark, Walter Cutts, A.H. Cram, David Cutts, J.M. Stinson, J.W.F. Brittain, Milton Thwaites, and Mr. Ayers.
In the Middle Years (1952-1967)
With the ending of World War II, Ottawa began to grow very quickly and one of the many outcomes of this growth occurred in 1952, during the church's 25th anniversary year, when the parish replaced its old manual pump organ with a new Hallman electric organ and it purchased the rectory on Anoka Street. However, with the passage of time, the old church building was showing its age and was constantly in need of repairs. One day, as the story goes, Brooke Cornwall and Bud Lefeuvre were considering the state of the roof, when they both realized that, "We are not going to spend another cent on this old place!". As a result, the idea of building a new church was conceived and in 1955 the parishioners embarked upon an ambitious building fund campaign called "Build For The Future" with an objective of raising $125,000. A professional fund raiser was used and Mr. Clare Watts was the initial gifts chairman of the campaign and later became chairman of the Building Committee.
The building campaign enabled the mission of St. Thomas the Apostle to purchase three acres of city parkland on Alta Vista Drive. This was obtained at a very reasonable price, because of the good offices of Bishop Reed and the mayor, Charlotte Whitton. Three restrictions, however, were placed on the sale, namely: that the mission not petition the city to remove the water tower, or the fire hall, and that the mission would not sell off sections of the land as building lots.
In May, 1956, the mission of St. Thomas the Apostle became self-supporting and became the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, with the Rev. William Wright as its first rector. Later that year, Bishop Reed turned the first sod and blessed the Alta Vista site of the new church. On May 6, 1957, the cornerstone was laid and on September 24, 1957, Bishop Reed dedicated the new Church of St. Thomas the Apostle. The pews and bishop's chair from the old church were given to the Church of the Epiphany in Barry’s Bay and the old church was demolished in 1958. The landscaping of the new church property was made possible by a number of memorial gifts for trees, lawns and flower and shrub gardens.
Completion of the new church did not mean the parish was finished with its construction phase. No sooner was the church completed than plans were underway for the construction of a new rectory, which was completed in November 1962, just in time for the new rector Rev. J. Harwood-Jones and his family to move into!
With the continued rapid growth within the Ottawa South area, the parish was experiencing difficulty in finding space to conduct its Sunday School classes. The number of children participating in Sunday School classes during this peak enrollment period amounted to over 700. Even with two shifts, the new church building could not adequately handle all these children. Consequently, new plans began for the construction of an education and administrative wing. This was completed in 1965 at a cost of $101,314 with the parish carrying an additional mortgage of $80,000. The cornerstone for the educational wing has quite a history, as it was the cornerstone for our old church on Portland Street, as well as the original cornerstone for the first Trinity Church on Bank Street. Consequently, it carries the 1927 date on one side and the 1867 date on its reverse side.
Another outcome from the continued population growth in Ottawa South was the decision for the parish to "mother" another parish. As a result, in 1958 St. Aidan's Church in Elmvale Acres was established. Then again in 1963, the Church of the Resurrection was established on Riverside Drive. Just as St. Thomas the Apostle was "mothered" by Trinity Church, the cycle was continued with the formation of these two new parishes!
In 1960, the parish was honoured by the telecast of its Eucharist service on Rogation Sunday by the CBC throughout Ontario and in Montreal through an affiliated TV station.
During the latter part of this period, the parish was blessed by the service of several assistants. Those who served with the Reverend Wm. Wright were Donald Chapman, 1958-59, Michael Peers, 1959-61, and John Fowler, 1961-62, while Gerald Churchill, Peter Meggs, and Harold Raynes served with the Reverend John Harwood-Jones during his five year tenure, 1962-67.
The wardens in these years included: W.A. Gregory, H. Hanmer, J.F.W. Brittain, F. Shepherd, J. Atherton, R.C. Ramsden, Ken A. Hall, T.H. Prescott, H.W. Hagey, H. Partington, Harold Powers, Jack Maybee, M.F.A. Lindsay, P. Weiss, A.B. Hunt, Robert L. Houston, W. Clarkson, and W.L. Hodgson.
And More Recently (1967- 2005)
The sustained period of growth continued during the early part of these years. As a result, new people with new ideas and enthusiasm came into the parish generating a plethora of activities, including: the men's and women’s groups; a lively music program; an expanding children's and youth program; adult Christian educational programs; and the ALPHA and Cursillo programs.
After the 1973 retirement of the church's sexton, Mr. Henry Girard, custodial responsibilities were assumed by teams of volunteers known as 12K. Some of these key volunteers included Hiram Holmes, Milton Thwaites, Keith Preston and Frank Wray, who served as the volunteer Building Superintendent until his retirement. Subsequently, the property management responsibilities were assumed by Allan Darling and then Jim Hodges.
After many years of indebtedness, this burden was finally discharged on September 17, 1975, when the church was consecrated and the mortgage burned. From this point the parish's emphasis for its objectives swung to outreach.
In 1987, the parish celebrated its diamond anniversary of the original church and the 30th anniversary of the first service in the new church.
A new major initiative for the parish was to render the church accessible to the disabled. A special committee was established in 1988, with Heather Wharton as its chair. In February 1989, vestry approved the spending of $l65,000 for the installation of an elevator and ramps and to convert one bathroom to meet new standards. An Ontario Access grant provided $50,000, with the balance coming from resources within the parish, including a small loan of $17,000 which was paid off in November 1990.
The parish initiated work on the development of a long term plan in 1998 by retaining the Rev. Helen Jacobi to lead a Parish Development Committee. Its members represented a cross-section of the parish and they obtained input from parishioners by the holding of two Parish Development Days. Subsequently, an action plan was developed and approved by vestry in 1999. This plan contained new programs to re-vitalize the parish, such as the Parish Nurse program and an expanded focus on the needs of young families and the elderly. Significant funding for the implementation of these programs came from the Building on Faith campaign.
With the maturing of the parish, there has been greater stability in the tenure of our rectors, as there have been only four rectors over this span of 38 years. Canon Leonard Baird served the parish for eighteen years, from 1967 to 1985. He was followed by Canon Allan Meakin's tenure of eight years, 1985 to 1993, and Rev. (now Canon) Jim Stevenson was our rector from 1993-2005. In 2005, the Rev. Bill Byers joined us as our incumbent. These rectors have been supported by a number of very capable curates and assistants. Those who served with Canon Baird were Roger Steinke, 1976-78, Allen Studd, 1978-79, Dan Cooper, 1979-81, Allen Hood, 1981-82, and Robert Davis, 1983-85. Those curates who served with Canon Meakin were, Gary Hauch, 1985-90, Tim Parent, 1990-92, and Doug Richards, 1993-94, who was our transition curate as he served with both Canon Meakin and Rev. Jim Stevenson. Subsequently, the Rev. Rhondda MacKay served us in 1994-97, Francois Trottier in 1997-98, and our Associate Priest, the Rev. Robert Assaly, joined us from August 2001-2005.
The wardens serving the parish in this period included: Cliff P. Smith, E.J. Semmens, Robert D. Wilmot, D. McLaws, Stan Roberts, Jack Hopps, Brooke Cornwall, Darell Small, Eric Eardley, Kathleen Hagey (our first female warden), J.G. Fultz, Lillian Stinson, Keith Flegg, Michael Webber, Howard Clarke, Audrey Darling, Don Blakely, Doug Walkinshaw, Patrick Molson, Leroy Fevang, Heather Wharton, Keith Preston, Michael Burnett, Roslyn Emberley, Frank Allevato, Lorraine Balderson, Derwyn Sangster, Deborah McMullen, Jim Doherty, Betsey Birrell, Dan Callaghan, Elizabeth Scobie, Richard Cherry, Janice Horton, Ted Dunstan, Kay Liver and Sandra Wright.
With the growth of the parish, it became necessary to add an administrative staff member to support our clergy and volunteers. Initially this position was voluntary and Audrey Roberts put in countless hours, but as the number of volunteer activities increased and our parish life grew more complex, it became necessary to have salaried clerical staff. The parish has been blessed by the many very dedicated people who have served in this capacity, including: Beverly Welsh, Lee Dreger, Tad Higginson, Kim Chadsey and Nanci Askwith. We are also very indebted to Earl Rourke who spent countless days reviewing and organizing our filing system, which greatly simplified the task of locating information for this historical record.