100 Years Remembered!

Happy 100th Birthday, Calvary!



Since the pandemic has lessened and we can now finally return to this beautiful sanctuary, I hope each of us will pause for a moment to appreciate the fact that this sacred space with its beautiful stained glass windows, is 100 years old and largely unchanged from the sanctuary that folks entered for the first time in 1922. They came, and others followed, to worship and to learn, to feel inspired or comforted or loved or challenged or simply accepted as part of a spiritual community in their own neighbourhood.

The building was a gift from people in another spiritual community, the Zion Evangelical Church on Weber Street, who believed as their ancestors had, that God’s message was intended to be spread to others. With amazing generosity they fulfilled the dream of establishing a place for a Sunday School and special worship in Kitchener’s growing north end.

During this Centennial year, the Anniversary Committee would like to share with you, bit by bit, a few highlights of past events that you may or may not know about, as well as occasional bits of trivia that may surprise you. 

In The Beginning

1800 - 1922

Let’s begin at the beginning. Did you know that . . .

Calvary's roots are found in the Evangelical Association, a denomination "made in America" by German settlers who wanted to worship in their own language. It was one of the earliest denominations established in America that was entirely independent from any established religion in the homelands they had left behind.

Many of these settlers had been connected to Methodism before they immigrated, and because of that influence they maintained a strong belief that their mission was to spread the Gospel. With this command in their hearts they sent missionaries and preachers to German-speaking parts of America, and north to Canada, especially to Berlin and the surrounding area.

The first Evangelical camp meeting in Canada was organized in1839 and held in a clearing between the villages of Waterloo and Bridgeport. It attracted a large crowd reported to be between 600 to 800 German-speaking folks who, like the earlier American settlers, wanted to hear God’s message in their first language. Evangelical Bishop Jacob Seybert was invited to lead this revival meeting by someone who pleaded that he was needed because they were “like sheep without a shepherd”. He rode 400 difficult miles on horseback from Chicago to speak to the crowds. He and 5 other missionaries as well as local preachers led sessions morning, noon and night.This camp meeting had the effect of stirring spiritual longings in many and resulted in a congregation being formed in Berlin the same year, 1839.

Did you know that a plaque in Hillside Park (near Lexington Road and the Expressway) commemorates the site of this first camp meeting. Finding the plaque now is a bit of a challenge! Ask Marney! who found it one day and took pictures to prove it.

The Zion congregation soon grew to be the largest Evangelical Church in the Canadian Conference and as a result, Zion became known as the “Mother Church” to other Evangelical churches in Canada including Emmanuel Waterloo and Emmanuel Bridgeport. Through the next decades the Evangelical Church grew and spread to many small towns in southern Ontario, and to other locations in Manitoba and the Ottawa Valley. Many of you will have grown up in one of these congregations and we would love to hear your stories.

It was in 1898 that the Reverend JP Hauch made a proposal at a Quarterly Conference meeting that Zion Evangelical Church should begin looking for a building in which to establish a Sunday School and a place for preaching in the growing North Ward of Berlin.

Although the idea was never entirely forgotten, neither was it acted upon for another 20 years until a committee at Zion was appointed to look seriously for a site for a second Evangelical Church. As Berlin, which was renamed Kitchener in 1916, began to expand toward the north, and Waterloo expanded to the south, it was clear that property close to King Street was becoming a desirable location for new buildings and facilities. The area developed quite rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century. A good example of a joint undertaking by the two towns was the Berlin-Waterloo Hospital. Do you know that it was built in 1895 on the site of a former cemetery and that the graves in it, and in several other small cemeteries in other parts of the town, were relocated to the newly expanded Mount Hope Cemetery, only a short distance away. Other notable buildings followed including the Hospital’s Nurses’ Residence built in 1921, the Dominion Tire factory opened in 1914, a much needed major addition to KCI which gave the school its present appearance completed in 1923, and the impressive Mutual Life of Canada Head Office, opened in 1914. One article I read described it as “unique and iconic, reflecting the town’s early 20th century prosperity and sense of civic pride”.

Planning for the new church was slowed by several factors in the 1910’s, most obviously the First Great War, and ironically for us today, the 1918 - 1920 pandemic.

However, once the war was over, progress followed quickly.

Carolyn Shoup all her life had heard that her grandfather had a role to play in the purchase of the property Calvary Church was built on. Some digging through old records and literature to fill in the details resulted in an interesting story.

A property at 270 Tuerk Street which was for sale seemed like an excellent location for a new church. Moreover, there was a small house on the property -- the building we now refer to as "the little shack". It could be renovated enough to become a temporary facility for preaching services and Sunday school. However, for some reason, according to legend, it seems the owner of the property was reluctant to sell it to Zion.

However, Edgar Staebler, a member of the Zion Committee charged with finding a suitable site, was able to buy the property and the building for $2700. with a down payment of $10.00! Several months later, on February 25, 1920 he and his wife, Augusta Kabel Staebler, transferred the deed to the Trustees of the "Second Evangelical Church of the Canada Conference of the Evangelical Association of North America". The trustees were well-known leaders in both the city of Kitchener and Zion Church: John Breithaupt, Peter Reider, Milton R. Kaufman, Harry A. Wettlaufer, and Edgar E. Staebler.

Soon after, an architect and construction company were engaged and work began. The corner stone was laid in October of 1921. Soon there would be a handsome church at the corner of Park and Glasgow Streets.

This brief sketch takes us to the opening of the new building in 1922. At some point in February we hope you will all be able to gather together in this sacred space to hear about Calvary Memorial in the 1920’s.