3/30/14                                                                

St. Martin's Hall, on Lonsdale Ave. at corner with Queens Rd.

(1930 Fire Insurance Map.)

Posthumous
St. Thomas Anglican Church
North Vancouver, B.C. Canada

The first worship service of this church was held in October 1910.  The service was held in a small rented hall on the north-west corner of Lonsdale Avenue and Queens Road in North Vancouver District.  This small building was built by Thomas S. Nye as a warehouse to store building materials.  In 1918  this hall was purchased by the church congregation for $800, and enlarged.  St. Thomas Anglican Church continued to meet in the Thomas Nye warehouse for 13 years.  "The last service was held at this location on the 1st Sunday in September, 1923." (REF 3.) In 1927 it was sold for $300 and  became a builder' supply store. (REF 3.) The building also served as the church hall.  "It is the current location of a gas station at the corner of Lonsdale and Queens." (REF 2.)

In early November, 1910 the church became a mission of St. John's Anglican Church, North Vancouver (See Blog Post 9/30/12.).  And later in November 1910 the name of the church was officially St. Thomas Anglican Church.  

"...the parish was officially rededicated on Nov. 11, 1919, to St. Martin of Tours "in commemoration of the signing of the Armistice on St. Martins Day in 1918, to perpetuate the memory of those who were killed in the Great War. (See Link 1.)

(REF 4.)

In 1913 the ship's bell (15" by 15") of the SS Zafiro of Battle of Manila Bay fame (The flag ship of Commodore Dewey in the Spanish-American War of 1898.-REF 1.) was donated to the church and hung in a rustic, ground-standing belfry.  In 1920 the bell was built into a turret and placed on the roof of the hall (on Queens and Lonsdale), now named St. Martin's Church. This same turret was later moved and placed on the roof of the church, built at Windsor and St. Georges in both the east-west position of 1923, and the north-south position of 1927..."(REF 3.)  

Church Bell

(REF. 3)

For more information on St. Martin Anglican Church see Blog Posts 4/6/14 and 4/13/14.

Reference 1: North Vancouver Heritage Inventory, 1984, available at the North 
                          Vancouver Archives.
Reference 2: North Shore News, "Home and Garden", 'St. Martins Church' by                                  Dorothy Foster, Dec. 4, 1992.                      
Reference 3:  The History of Saint Martin's Church North 
                            Vancouver, Chronological History,St. Martin's Anglican Church, 
                             1985.
Reference 4: 1930 Fire Insurance Map, available at North Vancouver Archives. 
Link 1: http://en.wikipedia

Prayer

God, be with the persecuted Christians through out the world. Amen (SW.)