A church is not a building. A church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is a people! Those are the words to a song we enjoy singing at St. Andrew’s. And how true!
The Early Days
Presbyterian Christians in Barrie first began worshipping together on Sept. 17, 1843; however, it wasn’t until 1849, when they established the Barrie Presbyterian Church, which became St. Andrew’s. At the time, the faith community shared a minister, Rev. Thomas Lowry, with a congregation in Innisfil. The Barrie Presbyterian Church officially became a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Canada on June 15, 1875.
Our sanctuary, located on the southeast corner of Owen and Worsley streets, opened on Feb. 25, 1883. Before that, we met in the Wesleyan Methodist chapel and then in our own building – a frame church built on the north side of Collier Street at Clapperton Street, just west of Trinity Anglican.
After World War One, the Memorial School addition – named to honour those who lost their lives in the war – was added. It’s where our offices, our classrooms, library and choir room were located, until we were displaced by fire in February 2023.
