Organized on September 17, 1786, the church built its first house of worship in 1787 on Stellarton Road, very near the Stellarton boundary at Lourdes. It was a small log building of about 35 feet square. That church was replaced in 1803 by a wood frame building, this one in Irishtown, (later Plymouth). In 1834 it was incorporated as James Church after its founder Dr. James MacGregor. This church remained in use for over a century until it was replaced by the present brick building in 1912.
The cornerstone was laid on 5th November, 1912, with the opening and
dedication service being held on April 12, 1914. It was, and remains the largest church in New Glasgow. In the tower hangs a bell from
James Church, which had amalgamated with
New Saint Andrew's to form
First Presbyterian Church. The bell was cast by the John C. Wilson foundry in Glasgow, Scotland, was delivered at a cost of a little over four hundred dollars in 1860, and served as New Glasgow's fire alarm until the town's first electric alarm system was installed.
First of the churches in New Glasgow was the congregation that became First Presbyterian Church, The Presbyterian Church in Canada. Its birth was 17 September, 1786. On that date Rev. James Drummond MacGregor (later D.D.) with three elders previously ordained in Scotland, Thomas, Alexander, and Simon Fraser — all residents of the "East River" district — constituted the Session of what became First Presbyterian Church. First Presbyterian in New Glasgow claims to be the County of Pictou's oldest church, a claim that is disputed by
First Presbyterian Church in Pictou.
The first church, a log building, was erected in 1787 on the West Side, near the site of the Duff Cemetery on Stellarton Road, very near the Stellarton boundary at Lourdes. This cemetery is the oldest in New Glasgow, and it is likely that it "belonged" to the log church. The church was thirty-five or forty feet by twenty-five or thirty-five feet; at first it had no pulpit, and the congregation was seated on logs with the upper surface hewed flat.
The log church served until 1803, when it was replaced by a frame building at Irishtown, (later Plymouth), near where Dr. MacGregor had built a brick house. In 1834 the congregation was incorporated as James Church, taking its name from the first Christian name of Dr. MacGregor, its founder. In 1852 James Church built a frame building on MacLean Street, New Glasgow, giving its name to the street on which it adjoined, James Street. The building was in use until 1908. James Church amalgamated with the congregation of New Saint Andrews
Church in 1907, to form First Presbyterian Church. The congregation
built the large brick church, the town's largest, which it still occupies, on the original site of James Church. The cornerstone was laid on 5th November, 1912, and the opening and dedication service was held on April 12, 1914. From 1908 until then the congregation worshipped in New Saint Andrews.
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