OLDEST - Church in Nelson, BC - Superlatives on Waymarking.com

Though this was far from the first church to be built in Nelson, all its predecessors have fallen by the wayside, leaving the Trinity Presbyterian Church as the oldest church in Nelson. That would make this bell tower with the tall, steeply pitched steeple atop the oldest bell tower in Nelson

Built in 1892, with an addition in 1898, it was designed by the well known local architect Alexander Carrie. In 1897 the church was renamed "St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. In November of 1912 it was sold to the First Church of Christ, Scientists.

Following Church Union in 1925 a small number from the Presbyterian congregation chose to re-purchase the original Presbyterian building, and re-named it "First Presbyterian Church." Known as Trinity Presbyterian Church since 2008, it was again sold in 2010.

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Description
The Trinity Church is a simple gable-form woodframe building complete with a steeple-topped square tower. It is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Kootenay and Victoria Streets at the western end of the Uphill neighbourhood in Nelson, B.C.
Value
The building is primarily important as Nelson’s oldest church building. Located on land donated by the provincial government, it was built at the beginning of Nelson’s development into the Kootenay region’s economic and administrative centre with a stable and large middle class population.

The simplicity of form and construction is in marked contrast to churches built less than a decade later in the same area of town, the lower reaches of the Uphill neighbourhood. The church is a good example of 19th century wood-frame frontier church architecture in Carpenter Gothic style, seen in its simple pointed-arch window openings, square steepled tower, and coloured glass windows. Work commenced in 1892, however did not finish until the architect Alexander Carrie was retained and two additions were completed in 1898 and 1899.

Culturally important for housing the first of many Christian congregations in Nelson, the church is an indicator of the central role played by the Protestant Christian fellowship in forming a cohesive community in this isolated region. It is an indicator that many of the early settlers could be described as having Scottish origins (by way of Eastern Canada and the United States).

The church is important for its association with its founding reverend, the Reverend Thomas H. Rogers and with Dr. Edward Charles Arthur, M.D., both critical in the development and construction of Nelson’s first school. The Reverend Rogers was the first preacher of a gospel of any denomination to live permanently in the city. Dr. Arthur was a prominent citizen, providing great impetus for the development of a number of Nelson’s important institutions. Reverend Rogers and Dr. Arthur formed the first regular schoolroom on May 18, 1891 in Dr. Arthur’s home; by midsummer of 1891 a petition had been forwarded to the Provincial Government requesting a proper school facility with a teacher.

With the understanding that the government would pay the salary of one teacher if the town supplied the building, donations of money and materials allowed the construction the first schoolhouse in 1891, located behind the present Bank of Montreal in downtown Nelson. The church is significant for its continued use as a place of worship since its construction more than a century ago. The building has housed noteworthy occasions, such as the first Gaelic service ever held in Nelson, which took place on April 14, 1914 and was conducted by Rev. Ronald McLeod. The church has been called Trinity Church since 2008. The building, called Trinity Church since 2008, was sold in 2010.
From the Nelson Heritage Register, 2011, number 23, page 40