Of wood frame construction, the original St. Andrew's was built in nearby Fraser's Mountain in 1819 and moved seventeen years later to the present site of St. Andrew's. In 1853 the decision was made to erect a new church in its place, with the building committee reporting it complete on July 1, 1856. The cost of the Gothic Revival building was $1200, being essentially paid for by the sale of pews.
The Kirk bell was cast in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1859, by John C. Wilson. In 1947 a carillon of (we assume) nine bells was added in memory of the nine men of the Kirk who gave their lives in the second world war. The church obtained its first organ, a reed instrument, in 1874. Its second organ, a pipe organ, was installed in 1914, being replaced by another in 1949.
The church has one of the nicer entrances we've encountered on a wooden church. It consists of a double wood door with pairs of Gothic arched glass in each door. Above is a double transom with stained glass in the lower half, the upper half taking the form of a lanceted Gothic arch with several quatrefoil, arched and triangular glasses. Surrounding the entirety is a large carved pointed wooden ogee arch.
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
In 1817 Rev. Donald Allan Fraser, a Church of Scotland minister, came from Scotland. He was a fluent preacher in both tongues, a Highlander in build and outlook. Not long after his arrival, a new congregation was formed by Kirk people of Dr. MacGregor's congregation. Some forty families formed the new Church, at MacLellan's Mountain. In 1819, another Kirk Church was built, at Fraser's Mountain, and Rev. Donald Allan Fraser served it and the MacLellan's Mountain charge. The Fraser's Mountain church was the parent of the present day Saint Andrew's, the Kirk on the Hill. Seventeen years after its
erection, it was moved from Fraser's Mountain to the present site of the Kirk. The congregation was incorporated in 1841 as the Presbyterian Church of Saint Andrew's.
At a congregational meeting held on August 17, 1853, a resolution to build a new church was adopted. At a meeting on September 22 the same
year those present pledged $574; on July 1, 1856, the building
committee reported the building finished, at a cost of $1,200. The pews were auctioned on 15 July, 1856 — the highest bid was £31. 15s, the lowest £5.10s. The minister at the time, Rev. Allan Pollock, was paid £450 yearly. A white wooden building, with its plain Gothic spire overlooking the town, the Kirk has been a commanding landmark for more than one hundred years.
A proposal in 1856 to have the Kirk unite with other Presbyterian congregations in the province was rejected, a rejection that had repercussions later. The Kirk bell, which from its height and tone is so readily distinguishable from all other bells in the town on Sabbath mornings and evenings, was cast in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1859, by John C. Wilson. In 1874, at about the time when Presbyterian churches in Nova Scotia were taking up the custom (not without argument pro and con) the Kirk installed its first organ, a reed instrument. In 1914 the first pipe organ was installed, and was replaced with the second in 1949. The chimes in the church tower were installed in 1947, as a memorial to the nine men of the Kirk who gave their lives in the country's service during the second world war. In July, 1959, the Kirk ceiling collapsed, from causes unknown. It was
assumed that a second ceiling of sheet material affixed to the
original ceiling about twenty years before the mishap was, by its
weight, the cause of the collapse. No one was in the church at
the time.
Through the years as the county grew, the people of the various districts found themselves able to support a church in their own district, and thus overcome the necessity for long journeys to attend divine worship. The Kirk was the mother church of the following churches, established by Kirk members, viz.: St. John's in Stellarton (now amalgamated with Sharon, as Sharon-St. John), St. Phillip's (now St. Pauls) Westville, both of the latter in the United Church of Canada, and, in the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the congregations at Thorburn, Sutherlands River, and Pictou Landing.
Like James Church, the Kirk felt the heavy blow of disruption. The first was in 1845, the second in 1888. and the third in 1925. In the latter year more than one third of its membership left to assume membership in the United Church of Canada. The Kirk vote on the church union question, held on December 29, 1924 was, in favor 163, against 287, majority to continue in the Presbyterian Church, 124.
From More About New Glasgow, Page 286