Dorion (Ont.)

St. Matthew's Anglican Church (Dorion, Ont.) located within the current Anglican Parish of Nipigon Bay opened for worship on December 9, 1915.  However, as early as 1910, the Rev. Leslie Todd had ministered to scattered congregations of the people in that area.  From 1913-1915, the Rev. P. F. Bull ministered to the congregation at Farmers' Club Hall and the old schoolhouse at Dorion.  The church was free of debt by Easter 1921 and Archbishop Thorneloe consecrated it on June 14, 1921.  On May 23, 1923, the mission at Dorion was definitely established as a separate mission (having previously been an out-station of the mission at Nipigon).  It served Dorion, Hurkett, Loon Lake and the surrounding area.

A drainage problem developed in the basement of St. Matthew's Church building in the 1950s.  After much discussion the congregation decided to move the church building -- a large hole was dug right next to the church, it was filled with gravel, then a weeping title and a concrete slab were added.  They hired a house mover from Port Arthur and during the week of September 11, 1960 the Dorion church was moved onto a solid foundation.

In 1966, the church celebrated its 50^th Anniversary and three stained-glass windows and other memorials were dedicated by the rector of the parish, the Rev. K. R. Gibbs, who was assisted by the Rev. F. Moore of Red Rock, and Canon A. J. Thomson, Rector of St. John's Port Arthur (now part of Thunder Bay, Ont.). The modernistic altar windows were presented by the women of the parish and they were dedicated at the same time. St. Matthew's is now closed for worship and serves the community as a museum.  The Anglicans from Dorion now worship at St. Mary's Anglican Church (Nipigon, Ont.).

Incumbents of St. Matthew's Anglican Church included Percy F. Bull (1912-1918), William Coombe Dunn (1918-1924), W. H. Crouch (1924), Stephen Turner (1924-1926), A. J. Bull (1927-1929), F. E. Jewell (1929), L. I. Greene (1930-1936), B. A. Wood (1936-1938), T. Cann (1938-1943), F. M Belt (1943).

Sources:

• The Algoma Anglican (January, 1966) Vol. 10, No. 1, p. 1,  Algoma University Archives, [accessed July 24, 2013]
• "Dorion: St. Matthew's," 1943, Diocesan Heritage Centre History Files Collection, File: 2013-078/003(003), Algoma University Archives.
• St. Mary's Anglican Church, http://stmarysanglicanchurchnipigon.com/HistStMarys.htm [accessed 2013 July, 19]
• "Basement Leaked, Dorion Church Moved", The Algoma Anglican 4, no.9 (1960): 6. Algoma University Archives.

The Nipigon Bay Anglican Parish comprises St. Mary's Anglican Church (Nipigon, Ont.); St. Matthew's Anglican Church (Dorion, Ont.); and St. Peter's Anglican Church (Red Rock, Ont.).  St. Mary's is the mother church of the current parish.  St. Matthew's, Dorion is now a community museum and St. Peter's was closed and sold to the United Church of Canada. 

In 1872, the Rev. D. B. Douglas arrived as the first Anglican missionary in the Thunder Bay area.  The Rev. E. F. Wilson directed the construction the first St. Mary's - Negwenenang on McIntyre Bay, Lake Nipigon in 1880 (this was later ordered abandoned and removed at the order of the Indian Agent).  In 1881 the Rev. Robert Renison, father of the future Bishop of Moosonee arrived in the area.  The Bishop Edward Sullivan visited the Lake Nipigon area in 1882 organizing services and games for local children.  Also in 1882, monthly worship services commenced in the home of Mr. Flanagan, the local Hudson's Bay Company manager.  At them time, his was the only permanent residence at what is now Nipigon, Ontario.  Rev. Renison moved services for the area to the new Canadian Pacific Railway station's waiting room at Nipigon (also called Neepigon or Nepigon).  In 1888, the local people raised $250 to construct what is now St. Mary's Anglican Church, Nipigon.  Growth in resource extraction in the area led to population increases.  In 1920 the diocese established St. Matthew's Anglican Church (Dorion, Ont.) and in 1948 St. Peter's Anglican/ United Church was built at Red Rock, Ontario at the mouth of the Nipigon River.

Sources:

"Anglican Parish of Nipigon Historical Highlights",  Diocesan History of St. Mary's in Nipigon, 1990-1992, Diocesan Heritage Centre History Files Collection, File 2013-078/007(005), Algoma University Archives.