History
It was founded as a result of the split within the congregation of St. Andrew's, Ottawa's first Presbyterian church, between those loyal to the Church of Scotland and those supporting the Free Church movement, as had occurred in Scotland the year before. The supporters of the Free Church in Ottawa and environs, set up Knox Free Church in 1844, just after the Church of Scotland's Canadian Synod in Kingston was split.
Designed by Donald Kennedy in 1845, the original Knox Church was located in Sandy Hill at the corner of Daly Avenue and Cumberland.
In 1866, a number of members formed a congregation on Bank Street, that is now Dominion-Chalmers United Church, just two blocks west at Cooper and Lisgar.
In 1874, the Knox congregation moved downtown, leaving their building to the first St. Paul's Presbyterian, that became St. Paul's-Eastern United Church (Eastern Methodist) after church union in 1925.
This second Knox Church was built on Elgin Street at Albert Street next door to the Second City Hall (Ottawa) on what is today the site of the National Arts Centre. It was designed by Henry Langley (architect) 1872-74. It opened prior to the formation of the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1875; the General Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church was held at Knox in 1874 where the deliberations over the Union took place. The church was demolished in 1930. The Drawings Collection at the Ontario Archives contains the set of plans by Langley for this ecclesiastical commission 889-98.
In 1931, the City of Ottawa expropriated this area to widen Elgin Street and Knox Church, which remained within the Presbyterian Church in Canada in 1925, was forced to move south a few blocks to its present location at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin.
The present Knox Church building, designed in 1931 by John Albert Ewart and Henry Sproatt opened in 1932. The church has hosted the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada three times: first in 1937, then in 1981, but only for the opening Worship, as the nearby University of Ottawa was the scene of the proceedings. In 2008, Knox again hosted the opening Worship at General Assembly, while the remainder of the activities took place at Carleton University.
Read more about this topic: Knox Presbyterian Church (Ottawa)
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