The hundred year life of this building as a church has come to an end. With the congregation having slowly dwindled in recent years down to just three remaining members, it was decided to close the church for good. It saw its last service in February of 2013, when services were suspended for lack of support.
The church will be deconsecrated then sold, the proceeds of the sale to go toward hiring a priest for the Nelson, Kaslo, and Balfour congregations.
The Nelson Star published the following article on March 30, 2014, telling of the church's closing and pending sale.
St. Matthew's Anglican
After almost 100 years, a South Slocan church will be deconsecrated Sunday and put up for sale. The congregation at St. Matthew's Anglican Church has dwindled to three members and held its last service more than a year ago, said Rev. Ann Wood.
“We’ve gotten used to the idea, but it will be a very sad day. What will happen to it, we don't know.”
Wood, along with warden Sharon Speirs, who lives in Nelson, and treasurer Ruth Hackett, who lives in Slocan Park, have since joined the congregation at St. Saviour’s in Nelson.
Proceeds from the sale of the church, land, and its neighboring hall will be put toward hiring a full-time priest to serve Nelson, Kaslo, and Balfour.
Atheist decided location
St. Matthew’s was built between 1912 and 1914. But according to a history published in the book Flagship of Kokanee there was some debate over whether it should be located in Bonnington or South Slocan. The latter won by a single vote — reportedly cast by an atheist.
Building began on a plot donated by a Mr. Melneczuk and was done by correspondence. Plans were mailed from England to a volunteer crew, overseen by one paid employee, Talbot Henry Megus, a carpenter and cabinet maker selected because he could read blueprints.
“He had an eye for detail and was very thorough in his work,” the history reads. "On two occasions construction was held up while they waited for the next set of instructions to arrive in the mail.”
After several delays due to slow wartime postal service, the church was completed in September 1914 at a cost of $900, although work was interrupted in 1913 to build a small vicarage next door for the Rev. and Mrs. Kennedy. It’s unclear when the church was actually consecrated.
The church sits on pillars — ten and seven foot cedar posts on the downhill side and four foot posts on the upper side closer to the road, which at the time was the main highway to Nelson. South Slocan Village was then a self-contained ranching community with an hotel, train station, school, store, and laundry.
Two other churches stood nearby: a Roman Catholic Church that still stands but closed in the 1970s and was converted to a greenhouse, and another at Upper Bonnington, St. Mary’s, which has long since been demolished.
St. Matthew’s and St. Mary’s were both part of the parish of Bonnington, in the Diocese of Kootenay, although until 1914, the area fell under the Bishop of New Westminster.
In the 1930s, Bonnington parish became part of the parish of Nelson’s Church of the Redeemer. Also during that decade, a hall was added to St. Matthew’s with a much firmer, concrete foundation. It too was built with volunteer labour, by West Kootenay Power employees.
Read more at the Nelson Star
![]()