CHAPTER XXV

1These marked E have English-speaking congregations. The rest have French.

2The names, however, of the students at the College de Montreal show many unmistakable Irish names. See the note in the chapter dealing with the history of Laval University.

OTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS

ANGLICANISM—EARLY BEGINNINGS—FIRST “CHRIST CHURCH”—THE BISHOPS OF MONTREAL—HISTORY OF EARLY ANGLICAN CHURCHES.

PRESBYTERIANISM—ST. GABRIEL’S STREET CHURCH—ITS OFFSHOOTS—THE FREE KIRK MOVEMENT—THE CHURCH OF TODAY.

METHODISM—FIRST CHAPEL ON ST. SULPICE, 1809—THE DEVELOPMENT OF METHODIST CHURCHES.

THE BAPTISTS—FIRST CHAPEL OF ST. HELEN STREET—FURTHER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT—PRESENT CHURCHES.

CONGREGATIONALISM—CANADA EDUCATION AND HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY—FIRST CHURCH ON ST. MAURICE STREET—CHURCHES OF TODAY.

UNITARIANISM—FIRST SERMON IN CANADA, 1832—ST. JOSEPH STREET CHAPEL—THE CHURCHES OF THE MESSIAH.

HEBREWS—SHEARITH ISRAEL—SHAAC HASHOMOYIM AND OTHER CONGREGATIONS.

SALVATION ARMY—ITS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

OTHER DENOMINATIONS.

A RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF MONTREAL FOR 1911.

ANGLICANISM

Some notes written about 1790 on the “state of religion” (Canadian Archives, Series Q, Volume XLX, page 343) help us to see the beginnings of the Anglican church in Montreal. This document appears to be issued by the “Society for Propagating the Gospel” on England. After the peace of 1762 it was thought advisable by the English government to send some French Protestant clergymen who could minister to French Protestants, whose number were greatly exaggerated. Accordingly, while M. de Montmolten was sent to Quebec and M. Veyssiere to Three Rivers, M. De Lisle came to Montreal. There was, of course, no church as the account proceeds to say:

“The minister at Montreal (who is also chaplain for the garrison) when he does officiate it is in the chapel of the Recollects Convent on Sunday mornings only and on Christmas day and Good Friday.” Again,“there is not a single Protestant church in the whole province. The greater part of the inhabitants of Montreal are Presbyterians of the church of Scotland. These being weary of attending a minister (M. de Lisle) whom they did not understand and for other reasons, have established a Presbyterian minister and subscribed liberally to his support. His name is Bethune and he was late chaplain of the Eighty-fourth Regiment, and while Mr. Stuart assisted Mr. de Lisle (which he did for a short time) he used constantly to attend the service of our church.”

Even on the arrival of the first Protestant bishop for the country, Doctor Mountain, who was made Bishop of Quebec about 1793, there were but nine Protestant clergymen in Canada. In the first years the duty was performed by the military and naval chaplains. In 1766 the Rev. D.C. De Lisle, a Swiss Protestant, was appointed rector of Montreal; hitherto, as said, he had acted as chaplain for the regiment. A minister was appointed for Three Rivers in 1768 and one for Sorel in 1783. In 1784 the Loyalists, establishing themselves in the north of the St. Lawrence and founding the Modern Ontario, chaplains were appointed for New Oswegatchie (Prescott), New Johnstone (Cornwall), and Kingston (Cataraqui).

The first Episcopal visitation of an Anglican prelate took place in Canada in 1787, Dr. Inglis, the first bishop of Nova Scotia, and then the only bishop in Canada, being appointed on August 12, 1787. He arrived at Quebec on June 11th. After a fortnight’s visitation he ascended the river, visiting Three Rivers, Sorel and Montreal. At Montreal he found that a part of the Récollect Church was kindly loaned at certain hours for the Protestant services. The city Protestants urged the Bishop to obtain permission from the government for the Jesuits church, now in its hands, the order being suppressed and the church falling into disrepair. The Governor, Lord Dorchester, agreed to place the building in good repair, but the interior of the pews were to be fitted up by the congregation. He proposed that the church be called Christ Church. We may call this the establishment of the Church of England in Montreal.

Christ Church was opened for service on December 20, 1789, when the sermon was preached by Mr. De Lisle. Mr. De Lisle died in 1794, being succeeded by the Rev. James Tunstall, who was followed in 1801 by the Reverend Dr. Mountain, brother of the Rev. Jacob Mountain, who had been appointed in 1793 to the new Anglican see of Quebec. In June, 1803, the church was destroyed by fire. A building committee was appointed, consisting of Doctor Mountain, the Hon. James McGill, George Ogden and the Messrs. Ross, Gray, Frobisher and Sewell. The site of the old French prison (about where No. 23 Notre Dame Street, West, now stands) was granted by the government. The cornerstone was laid in 1805. Meanwhile the Scotch Presbyterian Church of St. Gabriel’s, which had been erected since 1792, was loaned for services. On the 9th of October, 1814, after much delay, the new Christ Church was opened and dedicated. Doctor Mountain died in 1816 and the Rev. John Leeds succeeded. On his resignation in 1818 the Rev. John Bethune was presented by the king as rector under letters patent, which created a rectory and defined the limits of the parish. Thus Christ Church became the Anglican Mother Church of the city.

In 1850 Montreal was made a diocesan see and the Rev. Francis Fulford was appointed by letters patent the first bishop, and Christ Church was named his cathedral. These two seats of letters patent were the beginning of a long dispute as to the limitations of authority within the cathedral. Bishop Fulford was enthroned in Christ Church on September 15th of that year. In 1853 Doctor Bethune became the first dean of Montreal. In 1856, on the night of December 10th, the first cathedral was totally destroyed by fire; the tablets to the memoryof the Hon. John Richardson, now in the east transept of the present edifice, and the copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, now hung on the south wall, being among the few objects saved. A new building committee, of which the Hon. George Moffatt and Chief Justice McCord were leading members, then set to work. The present site of the cathedral was chosen, in spite of those who thought it was too far from the city, and in 1859, on November 27th, the beautiful Gothic cathedral, one of the most handsome of its kind on the continent, was opened for worship. In the interval, Gosford Street church was appropriated for worship under the name of St. John’s Chapel. In 1867 the Cathedral was consecrated by the Metropolitan Bishop Fulford. The rectory house was completed in 1877. In 1901 the cathedral act was promoted defining the rights of the rector, the bishop, the archbishop and the primate within the cathedral, and the duties of the cathedral chapter. The following is a list of the rectors of Christ Church and Christ Church Cathedral: 1789, Rev. D.C. De Lisle; 1791, Rev. James Tunstall; 1801, Rev. Dr. Mountain; 1815, Rev. John Leeds; 1818, Rev. John Bethune, afterwards dean; 1872, Rev. Maurice Baldwin, afterwards dean of Montreal and subsequently bishop of Huron; 1884, Rev. J.G. Norton, subsequently archdeacon of Montreal; vicars in charge of the parish, 1902, Rev. F.J. Steen; 1903, Rev. Herbert Symonds.

The Anglican Bishopric of Montreal has its origin as follows:

In 1787 His Majesty, George III, had created Nova Scotia into an Episcopal see, the bishop of the diocese being also granted jurisdiction, spiritual and ecclesiastical, over the province of Quebec as it then existed. In 1793 the bishopric of Quebec was created and curtailed the jurisdiction of Nova Scotia. The first bishop was the Rev. Dr. Jacob Mountain who was succeeded on his death, in 1826, by Bishop Stewart, a younger son of the Earl of Galloway, and when he died, in 1837, Dr. George Jehoshaphat Mountain took charge of the extensive diocese. Dr. G.J. Mountain had been appointed to assist the bishop of Quebec under the title of Bishop of Montreal, but he had no separate jurisdiction nor was any see erected at Montreal. This was divided in 1839 by the creation of a diocese of Toronto, in 1845 by that of Fredericton and by that of Montreal in 1850. The bishops of the diocese of Montreal from this date are: Francis Fulford, September 15, 1850, to September 9, 1868; Ashton Oxenden, August 31, 1869, to May 7, 1878; William Bennett Bond, January 25, 1879, to October 9, 1906; James Carmichael, November 4, 1906, to September 21, 1908; John Farthing, consecrated January 6, 1909.

Of the earliest Anglican churches of the city, the Gosford Street Church, now no longer existent, served as a temporary place of worship for the Christ Church Cathedral congregation between 1856 and 1859 after the fire on Notre Dame Street and saw many vicissitudes. It was purchased by Trinity Church Congregation in 1860 and used for worship till 1865. It then afterwards became the Dominion Theatre. Here Miss Emma Lajeunes of Chambly, afterwards famous as Madame Albani, made a debut as a plain piano player, for as yet she had not discovered the powers of her beautiful voice. In 1871 it was changed to “Debars Opera.” The Cercle Jacques Cartier, a dramatic organization of French-Canadian amateurs, who were the pioneers of the French theatre in America, presented a number of plays there. In 1889, the building passed into the hands of Mgr. Bourget, who placed the property at the disposition of the Union Allet,an organization of Canadian Zouaves, who had fought for the temporal power of Pius IX. It then became a vinegar factory, and when demolished was a carriage depot, and the site has now become, in 1914, that of the City Hall Annex.

The original Trinity Church was built in 1840 on St. Paul Street, immediately opposite the center of Bonsecours Market, at the personal expense of Major William Plenderleath Christie, a son of General Christie of the “Royal Americans,” subsequently designated the Sixtieth Rifles. It was built on a lot 75 feet 6 inches, more or less, in front, by 174 feet, more or less, in depth. This church and its successor are proud of the military associations surrounding it. The edifice is described as an elegant structure, built in the Gothic style, 75 feet long by 44 wide. The first incumbent of the church was the Rev. Mark Willoughby. In 1860 the congregation of Trinity purchased the Gosford Street Church, lately used by the Congregation of Christ Church, under the title of St. John’s Chapel, and worshipped there for five years. The old building on St. Paul Street was torn down and the lot sold. In 1864 the Trinity Church congregation secured the present site of the church at the northwest corner of Viger Square and St. Denis Street. The corner stone was laid on Thursday, June 23, 1864, by the Lord Bishop Metropolitan, Bishop Fulford. It was opened for public worship September 17, 1865. It was consecrated on January 13, 1908, by Bishop Farthing, being his first official act.

The predecessor of St. George’s Church was opened as a proprietary chapel on St. Joseph Street on June 30, 1843, with St. George’s Society present in force. The present St. George’s Church was built in 1870 at the corner of the streets then named St. François de Sales and St. Janvier (now facing Dominion Square). It was opened on October 9th of the same year.

St. Stephen’s Church on Dalhousie Street, Griffintown, was consumed by the great fire of 1850. St. Luke’s Church, at the corner of Champlain Street and Dorchester Street, East, was opened in 1854 and enlarged in 1864. The church of St. James, the Apostle, had its foundation stone laid on July 4, 1853. Its congregation was formed partly of that originally belonging to St. Stephen’s church. St. John, the Evangelist, on Ontario and St. Urbain streets, was built in 1860 and opened in 1861. St. Thomas Church, corner of Sherbrooke, East, and Delorme Avenue, succeeded the former church of the same name on Notre Dame and was conducted by a clergyman of the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion, but opened for the regular Anglican clergy in 1866. St. Mary’s Church (Hochelaga) dates from 1828, when a stone church was erected on Marlborough Street on a lot presented by a farmer to the Rev. John Bethune, then rector of Christ Church. Shortly after 1851 the church was closed, but was reopened in 1861. In 1889 it was torn down and in 1891 the present church on the corner of Préfontaine and Rouville streets was built. In the meantime the congregation worshipped in a building at 321 Notre Dame Street.

Other Anglican churches are: St. Stephen’s Church, Weredale Park; St. Edward’s Church, corner of St. Paul and the Haymarket; St. Martin’s Church, corner of St. Urbain and Prince Arthur streets; St. Jude’s Church, corner of Coursol and Vinet streets; All Saints Church, corner of St. Denis and Marie Anne streets, East; St. Simon’s Church, corner of Courcelles Street and Notre Dame Street. West: Eglise du Rédempteur, corner Sherbrooke and Cartier streets; Grace Church, 715 Wellington Street; Church of the Advent, corner of Wood Avenueand Western Avenue, Westmount; Church of the Redeemer; St. Clement’s Belcher Memorial Church, Gordon Avenue and Wellington Street, Verdun; the Bishop Carmichael Memorial Church, corner of St. Zotique and Chateaubriand streets; Church of the Good Shepherd, corner of Claremont and Sherbrooke Street; St. Cyprian’s Church, corner Pie IX Avenue and Adam Street, Maisonneauve; St. Augustine’s Church, corner of Dandereau Street and Fourth Avenue, Westmount; St. Margaret’s Church, Longue Pointe Ward.

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRALCHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL

ST. ANDREWS CHURCHST. ANDREWS CHURCH

ST. ANDREWS CHURCH

SPANISH AND PORTUGESE JEWISH SYNAGOGUESPANISH AND PORTUGESE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE

SPANISH AND PORTUGESE JEWISH SYNAGOGUE

OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCHOLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH

OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH

The Anglican Missions are as follows: St. Thomas Mission, held in Delorme schoolroom; St. Cuthbert’s Mission, corner of Beaumont and King Edward Boulevard; St. Hilda’s Mission, Marquette Street; St. Aidan’s Mission, Hamilton Avenue.

PRESBYTERIANS

Presbyterianism, according to the Rev. Dr. Robert Campbell, in his history of St. Gabriel’s Street Church, started in Montreal in a room in St. Lawrence Suburbs on March 12, 1786, when the meeting for the organization of the first Presbyterian congregation took place. Most of those present were Scotch soldiers of the old Seventy-Eighth, or Fraser Highlanders, who had fought the campaign leading to the conquest of Canada at the capitulation of Montreal in 1760. After the peace of 1763 a large proportion of the Highlanders elected to stay in the country, many settling round Montreal and its district. When the North West Company was organized these men were of the same metal as that adventurous Gaelic band, and of the men now gathered, some “as youths had been actually engaged in the fight at Culloden in 1745, while several were the children or the descendants of those brave men who had stood on the side of ‘Prince Charlie’ on that fated field.” The organizer was the Rev. John Bethune, an ex-chaplain of the Eighty-Fourth Regiment who, however, left Montreal in 1787. His son, the Rev. John Bethune, an Anglican, became afterwards famous as the first principal of McGill University, from 1835 to 1852.

From May, 1787, till 1790 there exists no records of services held according to Presbyterian forms. They seem as said to have followed those of the “Rector of the Parish of Montreal and Chaplain of the Garrison,” the Rev. David Chatbrand De Lisle, a Swiss who spoke English indifferently. The first regular Presbyterian minister was the Rev. John Young, from Schenectady, who was a stormy petrel, but he did good work for eleven years at Montreal. It was he who organized the erection of St. Gabriel’s Street Church, the first regular Protestant Church in Old Canada, prior to 1867, for that chapel erected at Berthier six years earlier by James Cuthbert, seigneur of Berthier, a Scotch Presbyterian, is claimed to have been only in the nature of a private domestic chapel attached to his seigneurial manor. In the interval between 1786 and 1792, occasional services were held in the government property known as the old Jesuit Church, which was also being shared by the Anglicans prior to the erection of the first Christ Church.

The land was bought on St. Gabriel Street on April 2, 1792. Until the church was built the Récollet Fathers allowed the use of their church to the “Society of Presbyterians,” also for occasional services. The fathers refused any remuneration, but were induced to accept a present of two hogsheads of Spanish wine, containing sixty-odd gallons, each, and a box of candles, amounting in all to£14-2-4. The “Scotch Church,” “the Protestant Presbyterian Church” or “the Presbyterian Church of Montreal,” as it was variously called at the time, was built in 1792, Messrs. Telfer and McIntosh executing the mason work and Mr. Joseph Perrault the carpentry work.

The Rev. Mr. Young’s committee were elected on May 8, 1791, to arrange the “temporals” of the congregation, and were mostly good Scotch traders, viz.: Messrs. Richard Dobie, Alex. Henry, Adam Scott, William Stewart, Alex. Fisher, John Lilly, William Hunter, Duncan Fisher, William England, Alex. Hannah, Peter McFarlane, George Kay, John Robb, Thomas Baker, John Empey, John Russell. Of these nine were to be sufficient to form a quorum.

The list of subscribers to the church building fund reveals the names of most of the principal merchants at this time, as well as those of the “Gentlemen of the North West,” so that St. Gabriel’s was a weighty congregation. But although Protestants, the worshippers were not all Scotch or Presbyterians. Doctor Campbell points out John Gregory, Joseph Frobisher, Benaiah Gibb, Thomas Baker, John Molson, James Woolrich, J.A. Gray, Thomas Busby, R. Brooks and John Gray, as Englishmen; Sir John Johnson, Andrew Todd, Thomas Sullivan, Isaac Todd and John Neagles, Irishmen; John J. Deihl and Andrew Winclefoss, Germans; J.H. Germain and François Deslard, Frenchmen; Hannah Empey and Peter Pangman, New England Loyalists, the others being Scots either by birth or descent, some Highlanders, others Lowlanders.

A portion separated from the Mother Church and formed a congregation for themselves on St. Peter Street in 1804, building a church in 1807 opposite to St. Sacrament Street. This was continued by St. Andrew’s (Beaver Hall Hill) Church, opened in 1851. It was then thought to be a long way from the city. It was burnt down in 1869, but was shortly afterwards restored to the original plan.

The next off-shoot from St. Gabriel’s was the predecessor of the present church of St. Paul, erected in 1834 in St. Helen Street, at the corner of Récollet Street, which in 1867 was sold and taken down, and a new church built on the corner of Dorchester Street and St. Geneviève Street. During the interval the congregation worshipped in the Belmont Street Normal School below.

The above scissions had been merely local and physical. But the greatest crisis in the history of the old church of St. Gabriel was caused by the great constitutional Free Church controversy, being agitatedly carried on in the parent church of Scotland and necessarily duplicated in the loyal colonial presbytery of Montreal. So that from 1830 bitter and personal rancours cleft the community.

The crisis was brought about by the Rev. Henry Esson, of St. Gabriel’s Street Church, who seceded about 1844 from the Synod of Canada in connection with the church of Scotland. The members who desired to remain with St. Gabriel’s still clave to the old ways and claimed the Church property, but did not gain possession of it till 1864, but those who followed the Rev. Henry Esson, being the majority—claimed and occupied the temporals on the ground that St. Gabriel’s had never been held in connection with the Established Church of Scotland. But this contention finally failed, for in 1864 St. Gabriel’s reverted to the Church of Scotland on the decision of Government. At this time of the scission of 1843-4 the “Free Church Committee,” which had been formed in the city from different Presbyterian churches, consisted of John Redpath, chairman: James R. Orr, David and ArchibaldFerguson, A. McGown, James Morrison, William Hutchison, Alexander Fraser, Donald Fraser, Evander McIvor, William Bethune and William McIntosh. The object was to form a church in connection with the Free Church of Scotland.

Writing in 1893, Mr. John Sterling, an adherent of the Free Kirk movement, speaks of the memorable conflict in the Established Church of Scotland, or the non-intrusion question and its relation to the movement in Montreal which resulted in the Coté Street Free Church.

This conflict lasted for about ten years, and culminated in the disruption of the church, on the 18th day of May, 1843, when 474 of its ministers and missionaries, for conscience sake, severed their connection with it, and constituted themselves into a body called the “Free Church of Scotland,” giving up their churches, their manses, their livings, and risking every worldly prospect, going forth with their wives and families, not knowing what might befall them, but with a clear conscience, trusting in God for the future, whatever it might be—one of the noblest sacrifices for principle that the world has ever seen.During all the time of the conflict, many of the members of the Presbyterian churches of this city, in connection with the Established Church of Scotland, strongly sympathized with the non-intrusion movement, and on the disruption taking place, considered it their duty to manifest their sympathy with the Free Church principles. At that time (1843-44) there were five Presbyterian Churches in this city, viz.: St. Gabriel’s Street Church, St. Andrew’s Church, St. Paul’s Church, Lagauchetiere Street Church, and the American Presbyterian Church, the first three of which were in connection with the Established Church of Scotland. The first concerted movement in this direction took place on the 10th day of January, 1844, when twelve ardent and good men, who might well be called the twelve apostles of the Free Church in Canada, met together and called themselves the Free Church Committee, others joining them afterwards, their object being to extend and propagate Free Church principles. The ultimate result of the work of this committee was that in May, 1845, a new Presbyterian congregation was formed in Montreal, which worshipped for a time in a wooden building on Lagauchetiere Street, near the head of Cote Street, which had been hastily and cheaply erected, being only intended to accommodate the congregation temporarily, until the projected new church to be built on Cote Street should be ready for occupation.At this time (1845) this locality was most respectable and quite uptown, and the new church which was proposed to be erected there, turned out to be the largest and finest Presbyterian church building of its day in the city. It was opened for public worship on Sabbath, the 16th day of May, 1848, and the name chosen for it was the “Free Church, Coté Street.”The population of the city had increased threefold, and the character of the locality by 1877 had entirely changed. The Protestant part of the population had mostly removed westwards to an inconvenient distance from the church, and the remnant were gradually moving away in the same direction, and the consequent dropping off of families and members, who were joining churches much more convenient to their dwellings, made the absolute necessity of the removing the church building westwards, quite apparent.Consequently it was then decided to build uptown and the Crescent Street Presbyterian Church was commenced early in the fall of 1876, the corner-stone being laid on May 5, 1877, and the church being opened for service on March 10, 1878.

During all the time of the conflict, many of the members of the Presbyterian churches of this city, in connection with the Established Church of Scotland, strongly sympathized with the non-intrusion movement, and on the disruption taking place, considered it their duty to manifest their sympathy with the Free Church principles. At that time (1843-44) there were five Presbyterian Churches in this city, viz.: St. Gabriel’s Street Church, St. Andrew’s Church, St. Paul’s Church, Lagauchetiere Street Church, and the American Presbyterian Church, the first three of which were in connection with the Established Church of Scotland. The first concerted movement in this direction took place on the 10th day of January, 1844, when twelve ardent and good men, who might well be called the twelve apostles of the Free Church in Canada, met together and called themselves the Free Church Committee, others joining them afterwards, their object being to extend and propagate Free Church principles. The ultimate result of the work of this committee was that in May, 1845, a new Presbyterian congregation was formed in Montreal, which worshipped for a time in a wooden building on Lagauchetiere Street, near the head of Cote Street, which had been hastily and cheaply erected, being only intended to accommodate the congregation temporarily, until the projected new church to be built on Cote Street should be ready for occupation.

At this time (1845) this locality was most respectable and quite uptown, and the new church which was proposed to be erected there, turned out to be the largest and finest Presbyterian church building of its day in the city. It was opened for public worship on Sabbath, the 16th day of May, 1848, and the name chosen for it was the “Free Church, Coté Street.”

The population of the city had increased threefold, and the character of the locality by 1877 had entirely changed. The Protestant part of the population had mostly removed westwards to an inconvenient distance from the church, and the remnant were gradually moving away in the same direction, and the consequent dropping off of families and members, who were joining churches much more convenient to their dwellings, made the absolute necessity of the removing the church building westwards, quite apparent.

Consequently it was then decided to build uptown and the Crescent Street Presbyterian Church was commenced early in the fall of 1876, the corner-stone being laid on May 5, 1877, and the church being opened for service on March 10, 1878.

Beside the Coté Street secession from St. Gabriel’s which is now continued by the Crescent Street Church, the Knox Church organization is now to be described: The free church movement in Canada ended in a secession, not a disruption. Accordingly after the dispute relating to the temporals of St. Gabriel’s Street Church the seceding body in 1864 agreed to retire and formed the session of Knox church. This held its last meeting in St. Gabriel’s Street Church on July 31, 1865, and the last meeting of the Knox congregation for worship there was on October 31, 1865. The Knox Church at the corner of Mansfield andDorchester Street was opened for divine service December 3, 1865. According to the Reverend Doctor Campbell this church representsde facto, but notde jure, the original congregation established in 1786.

The St. Gabriel’s Street Church was sold to the Government in 1886 and the congregation migrated to the New St. Gabriel’s Church on St. Catherine Street opposite the present St. James Methodist Church. This was demolished in 1909. St. Gabriel’s legitimate successor is the First Presbyterian Church at the corner of Prince Arthur and Mance streets.

Intervening between the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Free Kirk Secession, there remains to be chronicled the settlement of the American Presbyterian church in Montreal which arose originally through the secession from St. Gabriel’s Street Church in 1803, and later through a succession from Mr. Easton’s church on St. Peter Street which by a change of name in 1824 became the first St. Andrew’s Church.

The American Presbyterian Church was the result of the minority of Mr. Easton’s church on St. Peter Street becoming offended at the resolution of the majority to procure a minister of the Established Church of Scotland, withdrawing from what henceforth became St. Andrew’s Church, so that a new congregation was formed on December 15, 1822. This organized the first church at the corner of St. James Street and Victoria Square, which was opened on December 1, 1826. It was called “American” because it was recognized by the Presbytery of New York, as under its care on March 23, 1823; otherwise it was Canadian in the composition of its membership. The second church, that of today, on Dorchester Street, was opened on June 24, 1866.

It is not necessary to pursue further the story of the various off-shoots of the Presbyterian churches. Suffice it to say that in June, 1875, in Montreal the Presbyterian church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland, the Canada Presbyterian Church of the Lower provinces, the Presbyterian Church of the Maritime provinces, in connection with the Church of Scotland, united and became the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The St. Andrew’s Church remained, however, in connection with the Church of Scotland.

The Presbyterian churches in the city today are: St. Andrew’s Church (Church of Scotland), Beaver Hall Hill; St. Paul’s Church, corner of Dorchester West and St. Monique Street; the American Presbyterian Church, corner of Dorchester and Drummond streets; Knox Church, Dorchester Street, West, corner of Mansfield Street; St. John’s Church (French Presbyterian), St. Catherine and Cadieux streets; St. Mathew’s Church, corner of Bourgeoys and Wellington streets; Calvin Presbyterian Church, 946 Notre Dame West; First Presbyterian Church, corner of Prince Arthur and St. Lawrence Boulevard; Erskine Church, Sherbrooke Street, West, corner of Ontario Avenue; Crescent Street Presbyterian Church, corner of Dorchester Street, West and Crescent Street; Stanley Street Church, 96 Stanley Street, near Windsor Hotel; St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, William and Dalhousie streets; Taylor Church, Papineau Avenue and Logan Street; St. Giles Presbyterian Church, St. Denis, corner of St. Joseph Boulevard; Victoria Church, corner of Conway and Menai streets; Westminster Presbyterian Church, Atwater Avenue, Westmount; Montreal West Presbyterian Church; Melville Presbyterian Church, Elgin Avenue, Westmount Park; St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Stanton Street and Coté St. Antoine Road; MaisonneuvePresbyterian Church, corner of Letourneux Avenue and Adam Street, Maisonneuve; Salem Welsh Presbyterian Church, Alexandra Rooms, 314 St. Catherine, West; Fairmount Presbyterian Church, corner of Masson and Papineau streets; McVicar Memorial Church, St. Viateur Avenue, West, corner of Hutchinson Street; Verdun Presbyterian Church, 47 Ross Street, Verdun.

AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHAMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

EMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHEMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

EMANUEL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

ST. JAMES METHODIST CHURCHST. JAMES METHODIST CHURCH

ST. JAMES METHODIST CHURCH

ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH (EPISCOPAL)ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH (EPISCOPAL)

ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH (EPISCOPAL)

Presbyterian missions are: Nazareth Street Mission, corner of Wellington and Nazareth streets; St. Paul’s Mission, 184 St. Charles Street.

THE METHODISTS

The first chapel of the Wesleyan Methodists, opened in 1809, was situated on St. Joseph Street, afterwards called St. Sulpice. In 1821 the Congregation moved to the corner of St. François Xavier and St. James streets, when the old chapel became the first public newsroom of Montreal. In 1845 the Great St. James Street Methodist Church was erected with an entrance on St. James Street and two on Fortification Lane. This church was burnt down. In the meantime a Methodist church had been erected in Griffintown, called the Ottawa Street Church, on Wellington Street, close to where Duke Street now stands. This was also burnt down and it was replaced in 1846 by the church on the corner of St. Ann and Ottawa streets. In 1845 another church was opened on Lagauchetière Street, at the corner of Durham Street. In 1857, in August, the new Connexion Methodist Salem Chapel on Panet Street was opened, followed on September 26, 1858, by Ebenezer Chapel, on Dupré Street. In 1864, there was a movement, for expansion among the Wesleyan Methodist body, which had for its result the Sherbrooke Street Church, corner of St. Charles Borromee and Sherbrooke Street, West, of which the foundation stone was laid on July 5, 1864, and the opening occurred on May 21, 1865. The foundation stone of the Dorchester Street Church, corner of Windsor Street and the Point St. Charles Church on Wellington Street, were laid on Saturday, October 1, 1864. The Centenary Methodist Church was built in 1865 at the corner of Wellington Street and was rebuilt in 1891 at the corner of Charron and Wellington streets.

The other Methodist churches in the city are, St. James Methodist Church (St. Catherine Street, corner of St. Alexander Street); Mountain Street Methodist Church (corner of Mountain and Torrance Street); Douglas Methodist Church (corner of Chomedy and St. Catherine Street, West); Dominion Square Methodist Church (Dorchester Street, corner of Windsor); West End Methodist Church (corner of Canning and Coursel Street); East End Methodist Church (corner Cartier and DeMartigny streets); Fairmount Avenue Methodist Church (corner of Hutchison Street and Fairmount Avenue, West); Marlborough Street Methodist Church; Mount Royal Avenue Methodist Church; Ebenezer Methodist Church (corner of St. Antoine and Convent streets); Westmount Methodist Church (corner of Lansdowne Avenue and Western Avenue); Verdun Methodist Church (86 Gordon Avenue, Verdun); Huntley Street Methodist Church (Huntley Street near St. Zotique Street); First French Methodist Church (services held in the lecture room of St. James Methodist Church); and Eglise Méthodiste Française (De Lisle Street).

In giving the above list of churches it has not been thought necessary to pursue the later history of their separate cessions, or off-shoots from the parentchurches. It is sufficient to note that on August 29, 1883, at Belleville, Ontario, the Methodist Church of Canada, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, the Protestant Methodist Church in Canada and the Bible Christian church of Canada, united and became the Methodist Church of Canada.

BAPTIST CHURCHES

As early as 1820,1a number of Baptists in the city met in the parlour of the residence of Mr. Ebenezer Muir “for the worship of God and mutual edification” each Lord’s day for ten consecutive years. In 1830, they invited the Rev. John Gilmour of Aberdeen, Scotland, to come to Canada and lead the little flock into larger fields.

On the 12th day of September of the same year, two days after landing, Mr. Gilmour, missionary of God, preached his first sermon to his new charge in this new land in what was then known as the Bruce Schoolroom on McGill Street.

This little band opened their new chapel, situated on St. Helen Street and completed at the cost of £935-0-1 of which £572-10-9 were paid before its opening, leaving a debt of £362-9-4 due to two of their own members, John Fry and Ebenezer Muir, in equal parts of £181-4-8 each. On the 13th day of November, 1831, the First Baptist Church was regularly organized in this building with twenty-five constituent members. A marble tablet placed on the wall of Gault Bros’ wholesale establishment on St. Helen Street bears the following inscription:—

Here Stood

The First Baptist Chapel of Montreal,

1831.

The Rev. John Gilmour, Pastor.

Abandoned, 1860.

Immediately underneath this tablet there is another which illustrates the spirit of Christian enterprise and helpfulness that characterized this mother church in her early days, as follows:

This Tablet

Commemorates the Organization on this Site of the

First Young Men’s Christian Association

on the American Continent.

November, 1851,

Erected on the Occasion of the Jubilee Celebration,

June 8, 1901.

It may not be very widely known that the first Young Men’s Christian Association on this continent was organized by a member of the First Baptist Church, Mr. T.J. Claxton, in the First Baptist Church and especially for the young men who were members of this church and their Christian associates in the city.

The period from Mr. Gilmour’s resignation in 1835 to the building of theBeaver Hall Hill Chapel, was one of trial and testing but finally of establishment and triumph. The following are the names of the pastors who served the church during this time, with the dates on which they took charge:—Rev. Newton Bosworth, September 29, 1835; Rev. John Hatch Waldon, September 19, 1837; Rev. Beniah Hoe, September 18, 1839; Rev. John Girdwood, June 21, 1841; Rev. Thomas Spalding, April 19, 1851; Rev. Phaucellus Church, January 5, 1853; Rev. James Lillie, D.D., November 29, 1853; Rev. J.N. Williams, April 20, 1856; Rev. John Goadby, D.D., May 1, 1859—nine pastors in twenty-six years, or an average of a little less than three years each, indicating an unsettled period in the history of the church, yet one that laid solid foundation for future work.

With the advent of Doctor Goadby, May 1, 1859, the church entered upon a second stage or epoch in her history which we can properly designate the growing and multiplying period.

The church, under the leadership of Doctor Goadby, with a membership of 160, decided to build a house of worship in a more residential and convenient location than St. Helen Street was. With this end in view a site was secured at the corner of Beaver Hall Hill and Lagauchetiere Street on which a beautiful and up-to-date church home, with excellent equipment for Sunday-school work and other departments of Christian activity, was erected at the cost of $25,000. This was opened in January, 1862, and sold in 1878 to the Reformed Episcopal Church. On the twenty-seventh day of March, 1863, the Rev. John Alexander accepted the pastorate of this church. During his incumbency the church entered upon a period of uninterrupted prosperity; constant accessions were made to its membership.

In 1864 a mission was started in the East end of the city in the lecture room of the German Lutheran Church on St. Dominique Street, with a Sunday-school of twenty-eight scholars and eight teachers. Shortly after the starting of this school a Thursday evening prayer meeting and a Sunday evening service were commenced. These, after the lapse of some time, outgrew their accommodation and in 1868 Mr. T.J. Claxton and other members of the church erected a commodious building on the corner of St. Catherine and St. Justin streets, afterwards known as Russell Hall, for the accommodation of this mission. This building was called Russell Hall in honor of Major General Russell of the British Army, a loyal Baptist, who at the time resided in this city and who in every possible way supported the work of this mission.

Russell Hall Sunday-school, under the leadership of Mr. T.J. Claxton, was for some years, from the numerical standpoint at least, one of the most successful in connection with the Baptist denomination, the enrollment reaching 600 and the average attendance 500. On September 3, 1869, through the advice of a large council called for the purpose, this mission was organized into a regular Baptist church of which Rev. Robert Cade, ordained by the same council, was chosen pastor.

In 1875 building on St. Catherine Street, at present occupied by the First Baptist Church, was erected as the house of worship for the St. Catherine Street Church, at the cost of about $60,000, in which they continued to worship in their separate capacity for three years. During the period between 1869 and 1878 the following were the pastors:—Rev. Robert Cade, 1869-70; Rev. J. Denovan, afterwards Doctor Denovan, 1870-77; Rev. J.L. Campbell, now Doctor Campbell ofthe First Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1877-78; during his pastorate the union between the St. Catherine Street and First Churches was consummated.

Going back now to the point, in 1864, at which we diverged from the history of the First Baptist Church, in tracing the story of Russell Hall Mission and St. Catherine Street Church, we find that after the lapse of about two years, in 1866, another mission was started at Point St. Charles which shortly afterwards was organized into an independent church that gave great promise of usefulness in that interesting community, with Rev. Thomas Gale as its pastor. Mr. T.J. Claxton of the First Church erected a building for the accommodation of the Point St. Charles interest. We find, however, that this church disbanded, the cause for which, owing to lack of information, we are unable to state nor are we able to say what disposition was made of the building nor with what church did the remnant of the membership unite.

In the year 1875 eighty-five members withdrew from the First Church in order to organize the Olivet Baptist Church. In after years many other members withdrew and united with this church. While the First Church and its affiliated institutions suffered greatly by this movement yet the after history of both the First and Olivet Churches clearly shows that no single Baptist church could, in the City of Montreal, be as strong and influential as the two have been and are now.

In 1878 the First Baptist Church worshipping in the house of Beaver Hall Hill and the St. Catherine Street Church worshipping in the building on the corner of St. Catherine and City Councillor streets united, this united body to be known as the First Baptist Church, making the house on St. Catherine Street, in which they now worship, their church home. The house on Beaver Hall Hill was at that time sold to the Reformed Episcopal church for the sum of $25,000. The Rev. J.L. Campbell, pastor of the St. Catherine Street Church, retiring, the Rev. A.H. Munroe, pastor of the First Church continued to shepherd the united flock.

During this interesting section of the growing and multiplying period of the church’s history, lying between the erection of the Beaver Hall Hill house of worship and the union of the First and St. Catherine Street Churches, the following were the pastors of the First Church:—Rev. John Goadby, D.D., May 1, 1859; Rev. John Alexander, March 27, 1863; Rev. William Cheetham, 1870; Rev. A.H. Munroe, 1876.

Between the years 1881 and 1886 two missions were started by individual members of the church, one at Cote St. Louis and the other at St. Louis de Mile End, both of which continued for some time and gave promise of considerable success. Owing, however, to the lack of helpers, the former was by the discouraged workers handed over to Canon Evans of the Anglican Church who had a mission in that neighborhood, and so has become the nucleus of that which is now All Saints’ Church; and the latter was closed because the workers united with the band that withdrew to organize Grace Baptist Church.

In the year 1888 the Gain Street Church was started as another mission and Sunday-school in the East End of the city to which in 1897 a number of members were dismissed to organize it into an independent church.

In 1890, during the months of March and April, thirty-four members of the First Baptist Church were dismissed in order to organize with the St. Louis de Mile End workers, the Grace Baptist Church, now known as the WestmountBaptist Church. In 1902 the First Church assumed charge of the North Baptist Mission on St. Urbain Street and Duluth Avenue. About this time another mission was started on Berri Street, not under the auspices of this church, but successfully carried on by one of its deacons—Mr. John Ede, who had associated with him a number of the members of this church and other workers.

More recently the North Mission property was sold to the Protestant school commissioners. On the completion of the Temple Baptist Church (corner of Park and Laurier avenues) the Berri Street Mission lapsed and its workers returned to the First Baptist Church or to the Temple Church, the Rev. Mr. Ede afterwards being called to the Tabernacle Church. The latest church added is the Verdun Baptist Church on Rockland Avenue. Mention must be made of the French Baptist Church L’Oratoire at 14 Mance Street, above Sherbrooke Street.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Organized Canadian Congregationalism began in Montreal in 1829 when the Canada Education and Home Missionary Society was founded in Montreal with Mr. Henry Wilkes, then a young man in business, as its first secretary. This society was designed to support pioneer Presbyterian, Baptist or Congregational ministers. There had been, however, previous sporadic and unorganized attempts at church establishment in upper Canada. One such was that founded in 1817 by a Congregational minister, the Rev. Joseph Silcox, bearing the extraordinary title of “The Congregational Presbyterian Prince of Peace Society.” Mr. Wilkes went to Scotland shortly after the formation of the Montreal society and while a church student in Glasgow induced some ministers, among them the Rev. Richard Miles, to come to Canada. The Rev. Richard Miles came to Montreal in 1831, while Rev. Adam Lillie went to Brantford in 1833. The visit of the Reverend Doctors Reed and Matheson, delegates from England to the American churches in 1834, who also made a trip through Canada, led the foreign missionary society to send out some missionaries here, and in 1836, under Mr. Wilkes’ leadership, the Colonial Missonary Society, still the foster mother of Canadian Congregationalism, was organized in Montreal. The Rev. Mr. Wilkes became the agent in Montreal and the Rev. Mr. Roaf in Toronto.

The first Congregational Church was opened for service on St. Maurice Street on the second Sabbath of February, 1833. This was sold and in 1846 Zion Church was erected. The third church dates to 1868 and was erected at the corner of Amherst and Craig streets. Other churches of a later date are Calvary Church (302 Guy Street), Emanuel Church (Drummond Street, near Sherbrooke Street, West), Zion Congregational Church, Point St. Charles (185 Congregation Street), Bethlehem Congregational Church, corner of Western Avenue and Clark Avenue.

UNITARIAN

The history of the Unitarian movement in Montreal dates from the year 1832, when on the 29th of July the Rev. David Hughes of England preached in the Union School Room at the corner of St. Sacrament and St. Nicholas streets the first Unitarian sermon ever delivered, it is believed, anywhere in Canada. This was the year in which Montreal was devastated by the Asiatic cholera, 1,900persons dying in four months, out of a population of little more than thirty thousand. Mr. Hughes was one of these victims of the plague, but the work which he had inaugurated survived him. A small band of Unitarian believers secured a place to hold services in a building which was known on account of its location as St. Joseph Street Chapel. Here the Rev. Mr. Angier, an American minister, took charge of the services, and a Sunday School was inaugurated by Mr. Benjamin Workman. A movement was begun by the infant society to acquire land, and erect a church, but the times were unpropitious. A return of the cholera in 1834, together with the subsequent depression of business and the political disturbances which culminated in the Riel Rebellion of 1837, caused so much discouragement that interest flagged, and for a while even the regular services were discontinued. Occasional meetings were, however, held until, in 1841, the movement was definitely renewed under the inspiration chiefly of a few devoted women, prominent among whom were Mrs. Cushing and Mrs. Hedge, whose conviction that the time had come for a new and more vigorous Unitarian propaganda was shared by a group of men whose names have been synonymous with good citizenship and philanthropy in Montreal during more than one generation. Mr. John Frothingham, Mr. Benjamin Workman, Mr. Luther Holton, Mr. William Molson, and Doctor Cushing, were actively interested in the formation of the second Unitarian congregation of Montreal, and their efforts were stimulated by the eloquent preaching of an English minister, the Rev. Mr. Giles, who for several months conducted services in a small building situated at the corner of Fortification Lane and Haymarket Square. Subsequently an invitation was extended by this small company of worshippers to the Rev. John Cordner, of Belfast, Ireland, to become their first settled pastor. Mr. Cordner, who preached his first sermon in Montreal in November, 1843, had been ordained by the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, and his congregation remained for several years in official relation with the Irish Synod. In 1858 this alliance was dissolved, and the Montreal Church united in fellowship with its nearest neighbor, the American Unitarian Association, having headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. During its early years of struggle financial aid, as well as friendly interest and the service of visiting ministers, had been given by this Association to the Montreal congregation, and it was with their assistance that, in 1844, a piece of land was purchased and a church building erected on Beaver Hall Hill on a site once occupied by the old Frobisher mansion, historically connected with the early development of the fur-trade in Canada, and with the pioneer days of the North West Company. In the following year the Unitarian congregation received legal status by Act of Parliament, and its ministers were authorized to keep record of civil acts required of all settled pastors under the laws of the Province. By 1857 the congregation had outgrown its first building, and a new place of worship was erected which, with its simple dignified architecture, and beautiful spire, remained for fifty years a well-known landmark of the city, under the name at this time adopted, the Church of the Messiah.

In 1869 this building was seriously damaged by fire, and during the time when it was undergoing repairs its congregation worshiped in the hall of the St. Patrick’s Association in response to the generous invitation of the Rev. Father Dowd.

Towards the end of his long pastorate of thirty-six years Doctor Cordner was assisted, first by the Rev. Edward Hayward for a period of one year, and afterwards,by the Rev. J.B. Green, during three years. In 1879 when Doctor Cordner’s advancing years made it desirable for him to retire from the active duties of the ministry he was succeeded by the Rev. William S. Barnes, of Boston.

Like his predecessor Mr. Barnes enjoyed a long pastorate, serving his congregation faithfully for thirty years. Of each of these ministers it may truly be said that he gained a unique place in the affection of his congregation, combined with one of honor and respect from the community at large. Each was distinguished by a life of constant devotion to the service of his ideals, and the duties of his pastorate, by unusual intellectual gifts, and by great pulpit eloquence. The University of McGill recognized the ability and public services of both ministers by awarding to them the degree of LL. D. The story of the growth and unification of the Church of the Messiah is largely the story of the devoted lives of the two ministers who occupied its pulpit for a combined period of nearly seventy years.

In 1905 the congregation decided that, owing to the movement of the population uptown, and away from the old-time centers, the situation of its place of worship had become inconveniently remote, and the property was therefore sold, and a new church building erected at the corner of Sherbrooke West and Simpson streets. The new building, considered to be architecturally one of the most successful erections of the city, owes much of its harmony of design and execution to the artistic taste and culture of Dr. Barnes, who felt its erection to be the culmination of his life-work.

HEBREW SYNAGOGUES

Jewish settlers arrived in Canada towards the close of the period of French rule. Among the officers and soldiers who fought in the armies of Amherst and Wolfe were a number of men of the Hebrew race who did their modest share towards assisting in the conquest of the country and making it a part of the British Empire. When they became sufficiently numerous to establish their first Jewish congregation in Montreal, Canada, in 1768, they followed the ritual of the Spanish and Portuguese or Sephardic Jews. This congregation took the name of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, “Shearith Israel,” and the Congregation has continued ever since in existence, being one of the most ancient of the Jewish congregations in America. It at present worships on Stanley Street above St. Catherine. The first place of worship was in a room or hall on St. James Street, but in 1777 there was built the first regular synagogue building on a lot of land belonging to David David, son of Lazarus David, the first Jewish settler in this city. The building was described as a low walled edifice of stone with a red roof and high white-washed wall enclosing it. It stood on Notre Dame Street at the junction of St. James Street adjoining the present Court House and had an entrance on either side. Shortly after the erection of this synagogue the Congregation bought its first lot of land for a cemetery on St. Janvier Street near what is now known as Dominion Square.

The first synagogue built near the Court House had to be abandoned on account of the land on which it was built reverting to the David family after the death of David David, and after worshipping temporarily at the south-west corner of St. Helen and Recollet streets, the second synagogue building of the Spanish andPortuguese Congregation was erected on Chenneville Street in 1835 and completed in 1838. It was a small but dignified stone building with a Doric portico and quasi-Egyptian interior. The work was mainly carried out under the direction of Moses J. Hays, a son of Andrew Hays, one of the earliest Jewish colonists, and he was at that time a trustee of the Congregation.

When the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue was founded its first rabbi was the Rev. Jacob Raphael Cohen, who came to Montreal in 1778, and held office for a number of years. He was succeeded by M. Levy, and after him came Isaac Valentine. Rev. David Piza was appointed minister of the Congregation in 1840 and held office for six years, when he returned to London and became one of the ministers of the Sephardic congregation there.

In 1846 the Rev. Abraham de Sola, LL. D., of London, England, was elected rabbi and arrived in Canada early in the following year. Dr. Abraham de Sola belonged to a family that had long been prominent in the annals of the Jewish people in Spain and afterwards in Holland and in England. His mother was of the equally distinguished Meldola family. For over thirty-five years he remained the spiritual chief of the Sephardic Jews in this country. He died in 1882 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Rev. Meldola de Sola.

In 1890 the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Congregation removed to a new synagogue building which they had erected on Stanley Street above St. Catherine. The corner stone had been laid three years previously. Its architectural features are interesting as being a conscientious attempt to carry out a pseudo Judeo-Egyptian style with considerable success. Its design was due to Mr. Clarence I. de Sola, one of the sons of Dr. Abraham de Sola, who directed its erection and who had much to do with the carrying out of the undertaking.

In the same year the Spanish and Portuguese Jews obtained a new act of incorporation from the Provincial Parliament, its earlier act of incorporation proving now inadequate to the needs of the growing body.

Up to the year 1846 the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation, “Shearith Israel” had remained the only Jewish Congregation in Montreal, but during that year a number of recently arrived German and Polish Jews established a second synagogue, and in consequence of this a joint act of Parliament had been secured for the two congregations. The second congregation, however, existed only for a very short time, as its members were very few in number so that they disbanded and joined the original Spanish and Portuguese Congregation. In 1857-58, however, a number of new arrivals of Jews from Poland, availing themselves of the act of incorporation that had been obtained by their predecessors, organized in 1858, what is now known as the Congregation of German and Polish Jews, “Shaar Hashamoyim.” They gathered regularly for worship about 1860 and erected their first synagogue on St. Constant Street, now known as Cadieux Street. Among the founders of the congregation were A. Hoffmann, M.A. Olandorff, Edward Hymes and Lewis Anthony and were shortly afterwards joined by David Moss, Edward Moss, Lawrence Moss and Solomon Silvermann. The members of the Moss family were long among the most prominent of the leaders in this synagogue and were active here in Jewish communal affairs for two generations. Among those of the younger generation of this family were Samuel D. Moss, Hyman D. Moss and John Moss, who all in turn held office in “Shaar Hashamoyim.” Among others who occupied the office of president of this congregationwere Lyon Silverman, Moses Vineberg and D.A. Ansell. In 1887 the congregation built a new synagogue in McGill College Avenue. During recent years it has grown immensely in membership. This has been notably the case under the administration of its late president, Mr. Lazarus Cohen, as well as during the administration of his son, Mr. Lyon Cohen, both of whom have been very active and capable workers in the Jewish community of to-day. So well, indeed, have these men and their associates managed the affairs of the Congregation that they have already acquired land near Atwater Avenue and St. Luke Street to put up a much larger synagogue to meet the demands of its ever-growing membership. The first regular rabbi of Congregation “Shaar Hashamoyim” was the Rev. Mr. Foss and among his successors were the Rev. I.M. Cohen, Rev. E.M. Myers, Rev. L. Friedlander, Rev. Isador Myers and the Rev. B. Kaplan. The present incumbent of the office is the Rev. Dr. Hermann Abramowitz.

Up to the year 1881 the Jewish population of Montreal was not large, and the membership of the two congregations which then existed was, in consequence, limited; but the terrible outbreak of persecution of Jews in Russia in 1881 and the recurrence of these outbreaks periodically in the following decades resulted in immense numbers of Jews immigrating from Russia to Canada and other countries. As a result the Jewish population of Montreal increased by tens of thousands in a very short time, and it is estimated that to-day there are in this city alone fully 60,000 Jews. One of the results was the formation of a large number of new Jewish congregations and the erection of quite a number of commodious synagogues. Among these are the Congregation of “B’Nai Jacob,” which erected a new building on the site of the old one in Cadieux Street. Among its founders were L. Aaronson and L. Lazarus. The Roumanian Jews formed the Congregation “Beth David,” and purchased the Chenneville Street building from its former occupants after they had altered it considerably. Shortly afterwards the Congregation “Chevra Kadisha” was formed, and they erected their present handsome building on St. Urbain Street, while the Austrian Jews erected a large synagogue on Milton Street. The building of new synagogues has continued apace, and the formation of new congregations of Hebrews is a common occurrence.

All the congregations referred to above follow the customs of traditional or orthodox Judaism, but in 1882 a small number of gentlemen who favored the principles of American Reform Judaism met in the old Lindsay Building on St. Catherine Street to form a “Reform” congregation, and thus was founded what is now known as Congregation Temple Emanuel. They held their first services in the autumn of 1882 and obtained an act of incorporation in March, 1883. Among the founders of this congregation were B.A. Boas, B. Kortosk, Leopold Isaacs, L. Abrahams, E. Lichtenhein, S. Fishel, and A. Goldstein. They were soon afterwards joined by Samuel Davis, who for a number of years held office as president and who was a popular member of the reform community. They first rented a building but afterwards erected a temple on Stanley Street, in the rear of the Windsor Hotel. On September 17, 1911, they dedicated their new temple building on Sherbrooke Street, West, near Westmount. This Congregation is up to the present the only one following the Reform ritual in Canada, and although they form but a small minority of the total community, they have adhered to their views in a typical manner. Their present president is Mr. Maxwell Goldstein, K.C. Their first minister was the Rev. Samuel Marks, who was followedamong others by the Rev. H. Veld, and Rev. Isaac Landman. Their present rabbi is the Rev. Nathan Gordon.

THE SALVATION ARMY

The religious work of the Salvation Army began in Montreal on the 13th of November, 1884, with the following as the first corps of officers: Commissioner T.B. Combs, territorial commander, in charge of the work throughout Canada; Staff Commander Madden, divisional commander; Captain and Mrs. “Happy Bill” Cooper, corps officers; assisted by Lieutenant Eva Lewis. It met initial difficulties, principally in the injunction that forbade the holding of meetings unless they kept moving, which was circumvented by moving around in a circle at the same spot, a necessity which was finally allowed to drop.

The first corps held its meetings for the first two years in Webber’s Hall, which stood on the site of the present Canadian Northern Steamship Company’s building on Dollard Lane and St. James Street. Next the Mechanic’s Hall, on St. James and St. Peter streets was used as a meeting place for six months. The next location was the basement of Leggett’s boot and shoe factory at the corner of Craig and Victoria streets, where the present Greenshield’s building stands, until the St. Alexander Street building was erected.

This was the citadel and training home for officers and the main corps of the army. The fine structure on University Street, the divisional headquarters, was erected in 1903, and the building on St. Alexander Street was altered entirely to become the present “Metropole” for social relief work. The University Street building, in addition to serving as the divisional headquarters of the Army also houses the finance and immigration departments and is the home of Corps No. 1, and includes the Young Women’s Lodge.

Following the opening of the work by Corps No. 1, Corps No. 2 was organized in Point St. Charles on March 15, 1885.

Corps No. 3, the French Corps, opened its work on the 9th of December, 1887, in a little store on St. Lawrence Main and St. Viateur streets. French-speaking officers, brought over from Paris, organized the work and still continue in charge of its affairs. This little home was at first the scene of much turmoil, many serious fights occurring in which chairs and other weapons were freely used, but out of this grew, with the passing of the years, the present strong, harmonious body.

On the 30th of June, 1890, Corps No. 4 was formed in the East End, and on April 5, 1905, Corps No. 5 on St. Alexander Street, which is the Men’s Social Corps. Corps No. 6, the most recent to be organized, began its work on June 25, 1914, in Verdun.

It is difficult to account fully for the origin of other religious bodies in the city. The German Lutherans established their church in 1858 on St. Dominique Street, immediately in the rear of St. Lawrence market. It is now occupied by the “Temple of Labour.” The Swedenborgians were established on Dorchester Street, corner of Hanover, in 1862. The Assembly of Christians, at the corner of St. George Street and Fortification Lane, about the same period. The French Evangelical Church, on Craig Street, was established in 1864. Lovell’s directory of today gives the location of the following churches: Christian Science—First Church of Christ Scientist—41 and 43 Closse Street, Western Square: New JerusalemChurch, corner of Dorchester West and Hanover Street; Lutheran Churches—St. John’s Church (German Lutheran), corner of Mance and Prince Arthur Street; Church of the Redeemer (Evangelical Lutheran), 365 Mountain Street; Catholic Apostolic Church, 314 St. Catherine Street, West; Church of Christ (Disciples), 109 Fairmount, corner of Mance Street; Seventh Day Adventist Church, corner of Villeneuve, West, and Hutchison streets; Montreal Chinese Mission (Protestant), 336 Lagauchitiere Street, West; Undenominational Mission (City), 294-296 Cadieux Street; Desrivières Street Mission; Italian Methodist Mission, corner of Dorchester Street, West, and St. Urbain. The following charts will provide the curious student the religious origins of our population as revealed by the census of 1911.

Religions of the People of the City of Montreal, 1911.

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