Knx Oakville

Knox Presbyterian Church Oakville began with a simple service in 1833 attended by 11 worshipers in a wooden frame building on the east bank of the 16 Mile Creek.  Edward Marsh, an itinerant minister traveled to Oakville on horseback from Hamilton, to lead this first congregation in worship.

Early services in the pioneer ship building port, with its nearby stands of highly prized white oak trees, were held in such places as a cabinet maker's shop. This led in 1850 to the building of a white frame church on William Street

The current red-brick Gothic style building was dedicated to the glory of God on May 20, 1888. It replaced the old frame church and took a year to build at a cost of $16,000, an enormous amount in those days.  To build it, 60 members of the congregation signed a promissory note and the church purchased the White Oak Hotel at the corner of Dunn Street and Colborne Street, later to become Lakeshore Road.

The hotel had once been a wild drinking place called O'Reilly's Tavern. A later owner took to keeping a live bear chained up to amuse customers. But Oakville residents voted the town dry in 1881 and by 1887 the owner was willing to sell it to the Presbyterians for $1,600.

The old hotel was cut into three sections and moved off the site - one section is still downtown today at 152 Lakeshore Road. A church bell was installed several years later - the exact date is in dispute - cast in New York State.

By 1894, a "pedal organ" had been approved, to the consternation of the more conservative members of the church who regarded it as "the devil's instrument."

By 1919, the church was ready to expand again, and the sanctuary was renovated to assume the form that exists today. The old organ was replaced with a new $6,625 three-manual Casavant Organ, the chancel was extended through the arch and the stained glass window of the Last Supper was installed in memory of the men in the congregation who died in the Great War, including the son of the minister. The window was donated by Cecil Marlatt, owner of a great family tannery, who died 8 years later bankrupt.  These renovations, which cost $20,300, also saw the addition of what is now R.G. MacMillan Hall.

The 1925 Union crisis and the creation of the United Church of Canada, along with the Great Depression, brought about a period of hard times for the church and it wasn't until 1949 that the congregation could hold a mortgage-burning ceremony.

In 1955 the boom following the arrival of the Ford Motor Company was being felt and the church expanded again. Completed in 1956, the new section along Dunn Street now includes the parlour, the library, counting room, office, and the nursery. In 1965, a hall was built under the Church at a cost of $80,000, to provide additional space for the church school. It was named for C.K. McNicoll, the minister who guided Knox from its centennial in 1933 to 1961.

In 2008 Knox Oakville celebrated its 175th anniversary year.  The official inaugural event of our anniversary year and the most important symbolic event, came on Sunday April 13th 2008 when more than 100 members of the congregation gathered in the crisp air and sunshine at 9:30 a.m. in the public square beside the Oakville Public Library.

Billed as “The Riverside Service,” it marked the 175th anniversary of the very beginning of Presbyterian worship in Oakville and is considered the founding service of our present Knox congregation.