Provincial Heritage Site No. 95
In the winter of 1619-20 the first Christian services in Canada west of the St. Lawrence River were conducted at Churchill by Rasmus Jensen, a Danish Lutheran Chaplain on the expedition of Jens Munck. Those were also the first Lutheran services in North America.
The permanent Anglican Mission in Churchill was established in the summer of 1860. Rev. Joseph Lofthouse (later the first Bishop of Keewatin) took charge of the Mission in 1883. By 1890 the congregation was in dire need of a building. Since building materials were not available locally he took advantage of a new technology abroad. He acquired the components in England and had them shipped over. Both prefabrication and moving of building materials to a distant site were unusual at the time, but it was the nature of the components that made it more remarkable. The frame of St. Paul’s Church is made of iron. Only three such buildings ever made it to Canada.
The church also has many old and valuable artifacts, including a stained-glass window donated to the parish by the widow of the famed Arctic explorer, Sir John Franklin.
• Photographed in 1990.
• Published in Senior Scope, Volume 18, Number 9. March 10, 2018.
• Included in Testaments of Faith, Manitoba’s Pioneer Churches.