Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44FOCUS - AUGUST 2016 23 The impressive but simple red brick church building that stands at the corner of Jeffrey and Barber Streets in Prince Albert is celebrating 150 years of worship. The Methodist congregation of Prince Albert opened and dedicated the new church on September 30th 1866. The original wooden building, built in 1852 was destroyed by fire the previous fall. The congregation decided to build a more substantial church to satisfy the needs of a grow- ing congregation. A new lot was bought from George Currie, a grain merchant, and the new church was built of red brick. The cost of con- struction was $3,627.50 At that time, Prince Albert was a bustling, thriving community that was larger than neighbouring Port Perry and had far more businesses and residents! The first white settlers in Reach Township were Reuben Crandell his wife Catherine and their children. They settled just east of present day Manchester in 1821. In 1824, the Hurd and Dayton families joined them and by 1829 there were enough settlers to justify the creation of a school. The settle- ment was initially recorded on maps as Dayton’s Corners or simply, Reach. When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840, the community cel- ebrated its loyalty by renaming the community in his honour – Prince Albert. By 1845 the community had grown to over 200 souls. However, that year in Toronto The Christian Guardian, a Methodist newspaper, tells us that “Prince Albert is a flourishing place but without the necessary appendage to every village, the sanctuary to the Lord of Hosts.” Prince Albert was part of the Whitby circuit serviced by several travelling ministers. Five years later work began on building the first church in Prince Albert, a Wesleyan Methodist Church. It was completed and officially opened and dedicated on Sunday February 8, 1852. It must have been quite an occa- sion as there were three services that day: at 10 o’clock, 2 o’clock and 6 in the evening. The entire community joined in the celebrations. By 1855 the Prince Albert mission consisted of Port Perry, Borelia, Utica, Epsom, Uxbridge and Scott. But since Prince Albert was, by far, the largest of the settlements, it was the residence of the mission’s ministers. The Township’s first Post Office hadbeenopenedinthevillagein1851. In less than a decade the community had grown to become a thriving com- Prince Albert Church ANNIVERSARY 1866 2016 TH ...................... Please turn to page 24