Heritage in the Hat: Rock of ages

By Medicine Hat News on September 22, 2018.

The congregation of St. John’s Presbyterian Church is preparing to celebrate 135 years of existence, even as it mourns the loss of long time members, Bob Porter and Cliff Wright. The sandstone and brick building at the corner of Main (Second) Street and Fifth Avenue was the first of the second generation of city centre churches to be erected, back in 1902, a testament to the vigour of the pioneers of that faith. It replaced a wooden structure, a building that had served as church and first school house in the community.

In Medicine Hat, Presbyterianism arrived with the railway in 1883, and adherents were the first (disputed by the Methodists!) to hold a worship service. A congregation soon formed and a series of ministers were called to the pulpit. With the huge growth in the population of the city, daughter congregations soon formed in the River Flats (Knox) and on the Hill (Westminster). The members of St. John’s were among a minority of Presbyterian congregations that decided to remain out of the union with Methodists and Congregationalists that formed the United Church of Canada in 1925. A second congregation was established as Riverside Presbyterian Church in the 1950s, but recently amalgamated with St. John’s.

Brick and stone buildings are durable and the 115 year old church building is designated as a Municipal Historic Resource, which comes with lots of technical advice and some financial support from the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. It is still up to the congregation to preserve and maintain this historical asset. Recent preservation activities have included re-roofing and eavestrough repairs, re-pointing the mortar joints in the tower and sandstone replacement. The tower was a very awkward location to scaffold and during the heat of summer, not a very very pleasant place to work. Eroded joints were typically chipped out by hand back about one third of the thickness of the brick and fresh mortar packed in. The new mortar replicated the existing predominantly lime mortar and through the addition of small amounts of pigment, achieved a good colour match.

Lower down, the sandstone is a fairly soft material and the action of de-icing salts and freezing and thawing had caused some of the base stones to be eroded. Since there are no longer any sandstone quarries in Alberta, a matching hard sandstone was brought from Spain, carved in Calgary and installed. See if you can spot the replacement units!

Some street level single pane wood frame windows have been replaced after a century. This is a tricky discussion when preservation philosophy meets practicality and energy efficiency head on. The original windows went right to ground level, which meant snow could pile up against them. In the replacement, an inset base of brick to match the old brick is distinguishable as modern and yet aesthetically pleasing and a compatible material.

These repairs reflect a faith in the future and the congregation plans to celebrate its 135th birthday at the Sunday service at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 30, followed by a social time and reminiscences. Past and present members, friends and guests are all invited to participate in this mile “stone” celebration.

Malcolm Sissons is the Chair of the Heritage Resources Committee.

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