Kakabeka Falls (Ont.)

Anglican Church of the Messiah (Kakabeka Falls, Ont.) is a church in the multi-point Anglican Parish of West Thunder Bay. 

The first Anglican Church service in Kakabeka Falls was held in 1910 as part of the Murillo Mission by Rev. Jethro Norman.  Early services were held in the Community Mission Hall, a small building converted into meeting space for the use of any religious groups.  Between 1938 and 1940, the Mission Hall was turned over to the Anglicans when the United Church erected their own building locally.  The church was dedicated on May 11, 1942. In the fall of 1949, the congregation bought an old school house and moved it to the church property. The school became the church, and the old church became the church hall. The first service in the new church building was held on December 4, 1942 and dedicated two days later.

In 1953 both buildings were destroyed by fire. That summer the new Church of the Messiah was built by voluntary labour. The church moved out of its “mission” status in 1958. In 1964 the building known as St. Margaret's Church, Stanley Park was donated to the Church of the Messiah by St. Paul's (Thunder Bay, Ont.). The building was moved the ten miles to Kakabeka and erected behind the Church of the Messiah for use as a parish hall.

Anglican Church of the Messiah held its closing service on September 7, 1986. Following the closure the church building was moved off its present site by the Oliver Historical Society to be used as a Museum for Oliver Township.

Sources:

• "Parish Hall Given", The Algoma Anglican 8, no. 10 (1964): 4.
• "A review of the history of Church of the Messiah at Kakabeka Falls", The Algoma Anglican 34, no. 5 (1987): 5.
• Rev. Robert F. Brown, “The Anglican of Kakabeka Falls”, 1991, Church of the Messiah (Kakabeka Falls, Ont.) sous fonds, Algoma University Archives, 2009-061_001_003.

The Anglican Parish of West Thunder Bay fonds comprisesfour congregations: Anglican Church of the Messiah (Kakabeka Falls, Ont.), St. James' Anglican Church (Murillo, Ont.), and St. Mark's Anglican Church (Rosslyn, Ont.), and St. Mary's Anglican Church (Vicker's Heights, Ont.).

The first service of what is now known as the Anglican Parish of West Thunder Bay was held in the home of Issac Ryde of Oliver Township by Rev. J.K. McMorine of St. John the Evangelist (Thunder Bay, Ont.) in 1879. In 1885 St. James' Anglican Church (Murillo, Ont.) was consecrated by Bishop Sullivan.  Outstations were established in the parish in 1898 in Slate River and Stanley, Ontario.  This was followed by the opening of the Church of Advent (Hymers, Ont.), the Church of the Good Shepherd (Slate River, Ont.), and the Mission of Kakabeka Falls in 1912. 

In the 1950s the parish underwent substantial changes: in 1951 the Church of the Advent (Hymers) was closed; in 1952 Oliver Mission was renamed West Thunder Bay Mission, in 1953 the Church of the Messiah (Kakabeka Falls, Ont.) and adjacent parish hall were destroyed by fire and rebuilt.

In 1958 the West Thunder Bay Mission became the self-supporting Parish of West Thunder Bay.  The Church of the Good Shepherd (Kakabeka Falls, Ont.) was closed and demolished in 2008. 

At present two church remain active in the Parish of West Thunder Bay: St. Mark's Anglican Church (Rosslyn, Ont.) and St. James' Anglican Church (Murillo, Ont.).

Sources:

"Parish Profile of the Parish of West Thunder Bay: September, 2014" http://www.dioceseofalgoma.com/UploadedFiles/file/Job%20Postings/WTBProfile%20final-reduced%20%283%29.pdf [Accessed 2015 July 24]