Providence Church
Sunday School Picnic at Providence Church c 1938 - Fowl Suppers served upstairs until 1940, shed removed 1957
Picture of Providence Church on a postcard dated July 19, 1909
In the nineteenth century Kawarthas, just about every neighbourhood had a school and at least one church—two community institutions that were practically universal. There was a social expectation that everyone would attend church, that Sunday would be reserved as the Lord’s Day, and most people abided. With the advent of automobiles and secularism, in the second half of the twentieth century many people chose to drive to town to join larger churches or did not attend at all. Within a generation, almost all of the small neighbourhood churches stopped holding regular services—but not Providence Church. It is one of the last surviving rural churches in the area.
Before they had a chapel to hold Sunday Service, Methodists near Red Rock held meetings at the Red Rock School, where they attracted more adherents than many rural churches in the district. In 1890, the 58-member congregation purchased part of Thomas and Eliza Jane (Wray) Wilson’s farm for $25. The congregation held tea parties as fund raisers to be able to purchase lumber. They hired the Jobling Brothers of Bridgenorth to erect the church, as the neighbours chipped in as best they could to finish it, allowing it to open on November 2. Congregant John Wellington Staples proposed the name: “Wasn’t it providential that we got it built considering all the hardships in the community and the lack of resources!”
Like many rural churches, it became the neighbourhood’s public gathering place, hosting many activities that involved music and food. Some years a band was hired or gramophones were used, ice cream makers or lanterns rented, and fruit and other food items bought from local merchants. By the time of Church Union in 1925, the church was struggling, with only two members attending the final service before it closed the following year. Volunteers continued to teach Sunday School, then in 1938 the Church reopened, joining the Bobcaygeon Pastoral charge.
Once again, Providence United Church hosted many community activities including church suppers and Watchnight Services on New Year’s Eve. In the age of automobiles, the drive shed, which was originally constructed to stable horses during the service, was often used as an improvised dining room. By the 1970s, the church was again struggling to keep up financially. Surviving a fire in 1974 that damaged the southeast corner, six years later the congregation decided to just operate in summer, using guest ministers—a model that has successfully continued to this day. More recently, it has become home to the Providence Road Band.
Today, each service begins by signing the Little Brown Church in the Vale. The lyrics, “No place is so dear to my childhood as the little brown church in the vale,” reflects what is special about the church. As many of the members were growing up, they really looked forward to seeing friends and neighbours as they gathered on Sunday. Throughout their lives, reflecting on scripture has helped shape who they are, as the world has changed around them. Today, it still is dear to their hearts. The old friends and neighbours still enjoy seeing each other at the little buff-brick country church located in the valley near Hawker’s Creek on Verulam Township’s Providence Road.
