A Glimpse into the 1930s
Recently, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of our current building, which was then Crawford Park United Church. The other day, I stumbled across the bulletin for the service held at the laying of another cornerstone: the one at Verdun United Church, in 1930, over ninety years ago.
This was when they moved from Gordon Avenue to 650 Woodland. In fact the bulletin doesn’t even mention a street address; maybe there were so few buildings on Woodland Avenue at that time that a number would have seemed superfluous! Indeed, between Woodland Ave. and the Douglas Hospital, there would have been mostly empty fields in those days. The next two decades would see a population explosion and a building boom in Verdun.
The Cornerstone-laying service was held on September 20, 1930, and began, as these events seemed to do, with music from the Salvation Army Band. Several visiting ministers participated, including Rev. S.S. Burns of Chalmers United and Rev. G.G Burton of Centenary Church.
Rev. Isaac Norman, who had been with the congregation since 1924, saw the congregation safely into their new home. Sadly, within 18 months, he would be dead at the age of 62.
In a typed letter which seems to be addressed to then Mayor of Verdun Charles M. Allen, Rev. Norman writes, “On behalf of the Trustee Board of this Congregation it gives me great pleasure to ask you to accept this Trowel with which you are to lay the cornerstone of this Church.”
I am almost surprised that the trowel didn’t turn up in a box with the letter and the bulletin, but then, Mayor Allen would have presumably taken it away with him, so there’s no way of knowing what became of it.
This reminds me, though, of the silver ceremonial trowel that a SouthWest member recently found in her basement. It too was dedicated at the laying of a cornerstone , in this case of a Presbyterian church. I imagine the one presented to Mayor Allen may have been similar, by which I mean, better suited to serving cake than turning sod!
As we see in the bulletin, it was Mr. John Way who physically presented the trowel to Mr. Allen at the inaugural service. Mr. Way was a trustee, and an original member of the congregation: it was in his house on Church Ave./de l’Eglise that the earliest Verdun Methodist services were held in 1899. Also on the board of Trustees, as its secretary, is H.M. Way, who I believe was the son of John Way.
As Rev. Norman writes in his letter, Mr. C. Allen was the son of Mr. Joseph Allen, who had himself been Mayor of Verdun earlier in the century, and had laid the cornerstone of the second Verdun Methodist Church on Gordon in 1908.
We know that Mr. H.M. Way was still secretary of the trustees in 1937 because of the last item pictured below, a letter addressed to him and dated April 12th of that year.
“At an emergency meeting of the Choir,” writes Mrs. Wm. Marmon (Act. Sec.), “Sunday after evening service, at which Dr. Joyce and the Choir Committee were present, called to discuss the serious situation of choir members determined to stay away from choir rehearsals and on Sundays, owing to the cold condition of the Chancel, it was duly moved, seconded and unanimously agreed upon, that the Trustee Board be notified of this condition.”
Mrs. Marmon continues, “We pray and ask for their immediate attention to this serious situation which is detrimental to the choir members’ health, and affecting, in more ways than one, faithful service to the Church.”
If any response from the trustees comes to light, I will certainly share it with you.
Amy
