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.
Church of St. Giles
It was 67 years ago this month that Trinity East, located at 95 Cook St., received a name of its own: St. Giles Anglican Mission.
A popular church name in England, approximately 150 Anglican churches were named for St. Giles within a 100-year period. However in 1956, the mission in Barrie was the only St. Giles church in the entire diocese of Toronto. Saint Giles was the patron saint of the sore, smitten or afflicted.
The first service in the East End Mission was held in November 1955. Neighbourhood and congregational growth, particularly the number of children, was a trigger to construct the building, along with a $4,000 bequest for a facility that would be a place for youth.
The structure, Sunday School in the basement and church services on the main floor, was only the beginning. Within a year of opening its doors, the Mission was paid for and fundraising toward a church sanctuary on the large property was well underway.
On Sept. 9, 1979, the Bishop of Toronto, along with the chancellor of the Diocese, consecrated St. Giles Church.
When the Trinity East Mission was built, the property was still part of Vespra Township, a largely agricultural area that was quickly developing into subdivisions.
Cook Street, where the Mission was erected, was named for British Royal Navy officer, navigator and explorer Capt. James Cook, just to dispel any myths that the street was named for former Barrie mayor Les Cooke, the Cook family who farmed nearby, or for Second World War Pilot Officer Norman E. Cook.
It was a new neighbourhood church, but it had its share of parishioners with roots in the historic part of the east end as well. One such member was Raina Shopoff, the former co-principal of Barrie’s only private school for girls. Ovenden, once the lavish Blake Street mansion belonging to the Strathy family, opened as a school on Sept. 16, 1915.
The school started out with just a small number of students – boys and girls, and both boarders and day students from nearby farms – but would become a well-known academy, attracting local and international students. The school offered academics, music and riding, with Miss Shopoff specializing in languages such as French and German.
By 1950, Miss Shopoff’s colleagues were ready for retirement. Unable to manage Ovenden by herself, the school closed and its two houses and five acres were put up for sale for about $100,000.
Shopoff retired to the log cabin she had built in the 1940s on Codrington Street, overlooking Kempenfelt Bay.
When “Mam’zelle,” as her students called her, passed away at the age of 92, she was memorialized through donations to her church, St. Giles.
In 2016, the congregation of St. Giles joined with the St. Margaret of Scotland Anglican Church. The original Trinity East Mission building of 1955 has been demolished and all that remains of the Cook Street church today is the 1979 sanctuary.
Development plans for this site are underway.
