This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.
Collier Street Wesleyan Methodist Church — 112 Collier St.
One of the few remaining landmark buildings of early Barrie’s ‘skyline’ is the old Collier Street Methodist Church.
As was common in most pioneer communities, ministers would travel from village to village, performing church services in outbuildings and in homes of settlers.
The earliest gathering of the Methodists was said to have taken place in 1819 in the barn of William Mann, in the hamlet of Kempenfelt. It was Mann who organized the Wesleyan Methodist congregation of Barrie in 1836. They met in a log building at the northwest corner of Mulcaster and Dunlop streets until 1841.
The congregation petitioned the Executive Council of Upper Canada for land in 1837. The members wanted to formally establish a church, a parsonage, a burying ground and a garden. Their request was granted and property on the north side of Collier Street was allocated to the congregation.
By 1841, a frame building 100 feet long and 50 feet wide was completed, opening its doors for worship.
In 1864, the cornerstone was laid for a new church, located between the existing roughcast sanctuary and the market building.
It was a plain, Gothic structure with a spire and seating for 600 inside, including a gallery. Pews were rented, ranging from $6 to $12, and $8 for the gallery — a practice that continued until 1913. Future newspaperman Fred Grant was the first child to be baptized in the newly erected church.
Providing accommodation for the pastor or minister was a function of the church. In the early years, travelling clergy often stayed in private homes.
The Collier Street church’s first designated parsonage was located near the corner of Collier and Owen streets, but it was sold in 1884 to pay down church debt.
In 1896, George Ball built a parsonage next to the church, which was used by pastors until 1984, when clergy took responsibility for their own homes.
In 1902, a committee formed to assess the building of a Sunday school room and parlour, and in 1905, the majestic, 500-seat Sunday school building opened and the original frame church, which had previously been serving as the Sunday school, was demolished. The new Sunday school was a roundish shape, open in the centre for worshipping, with classrooms ringing an upper gallery.
There’s an old religious belief that evil spirits hide in corners, so if there are no corners in a round church, evil spirits can’t hide inside. Regardless of whether this folklore had anything to do with the architect’s choice of design, it remained a striking building until it was torn down to build the Collier Place seniors residence in the 1980s.
The new Sunday school prompted improvements for the sanctuary. Prior to the renovations, the exterior of the Methodist church was quite unpretentious. An architect was hired, supplementary land was acquired and work got underway. This is likely when the extensions on each side of the church and the magnificent twin rose windows were added.
There are a number of stunning stained-glass windows throughout the church. At that time, at least eight were memorials to members of the congregation. The stained-glass window, ‘Christ’s anointment in the house of Simon the leper, by Mary sister of Lazarus,’ placed in 1907 on the west side of the chancel facing the congregation, is in memory of lumberman Nathaniel Dyment, who died the same year.
Also, placed in 1907, on the east side of the chancel facing the congregation, is the memorial window, ‘Christ in Gethsemane,’ for Nathaniel King, former owner and publisher of the Gazette, and his wife, who died in 1897 and 1907, respectively.
Fred Grant gave a window, ‘The Spirit of Motherhood,’ behind the choir loft, on the east wall, to honour his mother, Carolyn, in 1949.
The stained-glass windows in the old Sunday school, donated by old Barrie families, Mary Sarjeant, Ball Planing Mill founder George’s wife, Catherine, photographer John Stephens and stationer John Laird, were placed in the new area of the church buildings when the old Sunday school was demolished.
In 1954, Collier Street Church purchased the Wildman mansion at the corner of Collier and Poyntz streets, demolishing the grand home to make way for a new church hall.
You didn’t have to attend Collier Street Church to know one of its major ‘players.’ In 1932, a musician from the St. Catharines area came to Barrie for a one-day ‘tryout’ at the Collier Street church. This music teacher, Lloyd Tufford, was hired as the new organist and choirmaster for Collier Street United Church.
Tufford, son of Violet Haines and Herbert Tufford, a gardener, musician, band conductor and organist at Appleby United Church, made a significant impact on the music scene in Barrie. What began as an experiment, teaching music basics in the rural schools of Vespra and Innisfil townships, became a cherished elementary school initiative, in time.
After the war, Tufford was offered a position in western Ontario in his fields of expertise — medical lab technician and music — but it was while Tufford served in the Second World War that he wrote the music and lyrics to the Barrie Song, so it’s not surprising he declined the Sarnia offer and returned to Barrie.
In 1946, he became the first director of music in Barrie schools, visiting dozens of classrooms, instilling a love and appreciation for music in hundreds of children for 33 years.
In the early 1960s, Tufford worked with custom pipe organ builder Bert Keates to design an impressive new organ for Collier Street Church, which was rated one of the finest north of Toronto.
Tufford was a central figure in dozens of recitals, concerts, music festivals and other productions, within Collier Street United Church and throughout the city. He was a founding member of the Huronia Symphony Orchestra and, in the late 1970s, founder of the Barrie Chamber Music Society, purchasing the $7,000 harpsichord and paying the guest artist fees himself.
In 1985, Tufford wrote to the mayor and city council:
“It gives me great pleasure to present the ‘Barrie Song’ to the City of Barrie for all times. May the people, young and old, use it for their pleasure and enjoyment.
I consider it indeed a great honour to have had it used at the official opening of ‘the new City Hall.’”
Do you want to know how it goes?
The Barrie Song, by Lloyd Tufford:
City in the land of the maple
Barrie the old and the new
To work, to play
By Kempenfelt Bay
Is our heritage so true
Sing of our happy history
Sing of the days to be
Pledge heart and hand
To our land so grand
And a life that’s glad and free
O’ sing it out
For its Barrie it’s the place for me
The historic Collier Street United Church continues to be a vibrant centre of worship, inspiring music, splendid architecture, spectacular stained glass and an important part of Barrie’s past.
Collier Street United Church is on the municipal heritage register and is a recipient of the Heritage Barrie Heritage Award.
