ANGLICAN CHURCH, ST. CATHARINES
(1795 - 1836)
On this site stood the Anglican chapel, St. Catharines (1795 - 1836), the first public building in the community. The name St. Catharines became associated with the community and the church. By 1797 a log school house was situated just east of this spot. The Parish included a cemetery and a parsonage. An assignment to the church dated Feb. 17, 1796 is the first documented use of the City's name and records the names of the 44 heads of the community's founding families and others from the surrounding area.
John Backhouse, John Hayner, Jacob Dittrick, Abraham Clendenin, Benjamin Froilick, Henry Smith, Zackariah Hayner, Richard Hayner, Albert Hayner, Adam Haynes, Cornelius Follock, John Decow, Robert Campbell, John Turney, John Brown, William Day, Obediah Hopkins, Peter Hopkins, Asa Waterhouse, John Willson Senr., Hugh Willson, John Kelly, Jonathan Nunn, George Couke, Jacob Upper, Anthony Upper, Petter Wever, George Hover, Stephen Seburn, Philip Metler, Andrew Hanseler, Jacob Bowman, George Keefer, Michael Teattor, Jacob Ball Jr., George Hartsell, John Stevens, Adam Hunt, John Dennis, John Bessey, James Newkirk, Francis Wever, Robert Bessey, Jabish Bessey
This plaque was erected by the St. Catharines Bicentennial Committee with the assistance of the Ontario Heritage Foundation, July 1, 1996.