St. Paul's Church

St. Paul's Anglican Church, located at the south end of the Grand Parade, is Halifax's first and oldest church. It was founded in the same year as Halifax itself -- 1749 -- and therefore has just celebrated its 250th anniversary in 1999. St. Paul's is the oldest protestant church in Canada and is Halifax's oldest building.

It opened for worship in 1750, although there were no pews at that point. The city's founding governor, Edward Cornwallis, wrote that the church resembled "Marybone" in London, although Thomas Raddall thought it looked more like St. Peter's on Vere Street. The building was made of oak and pine from Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For many years, the church featured the sounds of an organ that was captured by privateers as it was being transported to Spanish America. The church's three bells were made in London in 1812.

In view of the lack of other places of worship, St. Paul's offered a place for other denominations to gather in the early days of Halifax. Anglican services were Sunday mornings, with Dissenters holding services on Sunday afternoons. There were also occassional services for the Mi'kmaq in their native language.

	Commemorative plaque outside the church's front entrance
St. Paul's Anglican Church, founded 1749
It has been a myth among Haligonians, perhaps only when they are speaking with visitors, that the upper righthand pane of glass in the image to the right is the silhouette of an Anglican minister who was standing by the window at the moment of the Halifax Explosion. The myth tells of the minister's profile being captured in the remaining glass as he was blown through the window. The myth is just that; the glass in the pane just happen to break that way. Sorry. Grant MacLean reports in his "Walk Historic Halifax", however, the silhouette resembles an assistant who served at the church in 1750.
	St. Paul's Church, view from Argyle Street