City of St Johns

St. John's is the oldest Anglican parish in Kitchener-Waterloo, having been established in 1856. Until the arrival of the railroad, Berlin, as it was called then, was a sleepy, German community, and the needs of any Anglicans in the area were met by the itinerant Rev. Michael Boomer, a newly-ordained minister in the Church of Ireland. He probably w... orked out of Trinity Church, Galt (Cambridge), which had been established in 1840. With the arrival of the railway came the English speaking population, and through the work of Dr. Bowlby and William Jaffray, the parish of St. John the Evangelist was established in 1856. The first services were held in the printing shop, and as the town continued to grow, it became the county seat, and the Anglicans became the dominant, non-Roman denomination in the town. By 1861 the congregation had built their first building. The east windows of the present building, and six lancet windows on the north side of the nave come fromthe original, 1861 building.Read More