St. James' Church Ingersoll
Celebrating 185 Years of Service & Worship
 in Ingersoll Ontario
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St. James’ Parish can trace its roots back to 1834 when Ingersoll was known as Oxford village or Oxford-on-The-Thames. The parish’s first services were held in a local school house near the present location of St. James’. The transition from these humble worship quarters to the first wooden church built in 1840 was a challenging period. The parish’s story is tightly interwoven with the history of the founding family of our community. James Ingersoll, the youngest son of Oxford Village’s founding father, Thomas, deeded a parcel of land to allow the construction of this first church building. The Annual Vestry minutes of 1847 indicate that James Ingersoll was one of the church wardens. By 1864, the original structure was in poor repair and the parish was in danger of closing down completely. But one week after the Bishop’s visit, Thomas Brown, a very successful and influential member of the Ingersoll community, gathered support for a forward looking idea at such a difficult time. He proposed that a Building Committee remove the wood frame church and erect in its place “a good permanent brick building, thereby saving a large outlay in repairs on this [building] which would be necessary in order to make it comfortable”. And so, a new phase began in the life of the St. James’ parish and the existing building that many generations have grown to love and appreciate was finally put in place by 1869. Yet, it wasn’t until all construction debts had been paid, that the parish went from “missionary” status to a “full-fledged” status on November 1, 1876.  

The addition of the Parish Hall in 1930 allowed the parish to open its doors wider.

 

Many groups were welcomed into the parish as part of St. James’ outreach initiatives. The story of St. James', similar to the histories of many small town churches, reflects the high and lows, the peaks and valleys of the many eras of local and national and international history. As Ingersoll, the town, grew so did our presence in the community. Even though we may have evolved from a “pioneer” existence to a more sophisticated 21st century state, our faith has remained solidly in place. No matter what the financial or physical obstacles have been in the past, present or the future,  

St. James’ parishioners maintain their desire to be open and inviting Christians worshiping and ministering through the Anglican values in our local community and beyond.

 

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History of

St. James'

Click on the photo of the church to read the complete history.