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Saint Ansgar's Lutheran Church |
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal - Early History
If you have anecdotes relating to the history of our congregation, please share them!
The following excerpt is taken from a letter written to St. Ansgar's on the occasion of it's 70th Anniversary, in 1997. The letter was written by a well-known and loved former pastor, and as you can read, one of our earliest "members", Dr. Fred. Jensen.
...I was baptized in the bosom of St. Ansgar's church on June 3, 1928, just seven months after the congregation had been organized by my father, the late Dr. John M. Jensen. Dad had been adked by the Atlantic District of the old United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church (later called the U.E.L.C.) to see what he could do about gathering the Danish Community in Montreal, forming a congregation and establishing a church...
St. Ansgar's [has] weathered many a storm along the way. Shortly after the church was organized came the stock market crash in 1929 with the resulting depression which lasted almost all through the Thirties. Immigration dried up as a result. Money was in short supply. The congregation had to meet in rented facilities. I well remember worshipping in the German Lutheran Church on [Jeanne Mance] Street for some time, and later on in the English Lutheran Church (Redeemer Lutheran) on the corner of Clark and Western Avenues. Still, a faithful nucleus of the congregation remained. After working almost 11 years in Montreal and serving as a circuit rider for the Atlantic District, conducting services in Ottawa, Fitzroy Harbor, London, and Toronto, Ontario, as well as Montreal, my father received the call to Bethany Lutheran Church in Spencer, Iowa, where we moved in 1937. In 1938 Pastor Vilhelm Beck accepted the call to St. Ansgar's and together with his wife, Marie Beck, did a yoeman's work of consolidating the initial effors and continuing to build the congregation. The period of time was interrupted by World War II. Yet the congregation was able to secure a building of its own at 1837 Dorchester St. West - the old Vanier Estate. This gave the church a solid base of operation and stabalized the work to the extent that a permanent Sunday School program and other congregational programs could be carried out. Services were still held in both languages - Danish and English - but it became apparent that the second generation needed to have services predominantly in the English language.
I succeeded Pastor Beck in August of 1959, and already at that time the attendance at the English services outnumbered the Danish by three to one. In succeeding Pastor Beck I was also given the assignment to help the congregation relocate and build a new church. By 1959 the facilities, however beautifully the Vanier house had been adapted to be both parsonage and church, had become inadequate. There was a lack of much needed parking space, especially on week days. On Sundays the congregation was permitted to park in front of the church at 1837 Dorchester from 10 a.m. until 12 noon.
After much searching and effort a lot was found that was owned by the city of Montreal in N.D.G. It could be sold to the congregation for the price of $40,500 and was about the right size for a new building - 22,000 square feet. At the same time the old building at 1837 Dorchester St. which had been purchased in 1940 for $8,000 was sold for the price of $60,000. This gave the congregation's building fund a sizable boost. In addition to the $60,000 from the building the members raised over $20,000 themselves. In addition, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada granted the congregation a loan of $65,000 so that the building project could be completed. The congregation also had to purchase a parsonage, which they did for $18,500 at 3839 Oxford Ave. The church building was designed by the Estonian Architect, Karry Kivilo, and the bid was let to the Rassenti Construction Company for $76,000.00. Some modifications were initially made and with furnishings the total price of the building came to about &86,000. The whole project was about $145,000 of which the $65,000 was financed by the Canadian Home Mission program of the ELCC. In subsequent years the mortgage was paid off during the ministry of Pastor Sid Nelson.
The new church was dedicated on June 7, 1964 by Dr. William Larsen, the last president of the old UELC. Also present, and preaching was Dr. John M. Jensen, the first pastor of St. Ansgar. Pastor Vilhelm Beck was also in attendance at the dedicatory service, together with Dr. John Houck, the Regional Director for Home Missions of the American Lutheran Chruch. Suffice it to say, all the pastors who had served St. Ansgar's up until that time were present for the dedication of the new church. The dedication was made memorable by the collapse of several window panels in the sanctuary which were opened and closed by a cable secured to a crank in the wall. Needless to say the contractor had forgotten to put a stopper at the end of the cable, and when the window panels were being closed at the end of the celebration on Sunday afternoon, the cable slipped through, the windows whipped back and fell on the heads of several parishioners. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt. It did put a damper on the celebration. Someone remarked that "when St. Ansgar's does something, it's done with a bang!"
(Originally added to the web page: 2002/09/02)