History of Churches in Lanark

A first priority for the settlers arriving from “the old country”

was the establishment of churches and schools.

In the 1820s, the Scottish Presbyterians were the first to build churches, in Lanark, Watson’s Corners, McDonalds Corners and Middleville, each partly funded by the Church of Scotland.

The Methodists, served by lay ‘circuit riders’, erected their first church in Lanark in 1850. Churches were then constructed in Playfairville, Boyd’s Settlement, Prestonvale and Clayton.

 In 1853, the Scottish Congregationalists built their first church. Like the Baptists, their congregations were ‘gathered’ as opposed to being defined by parish boundaries.

In 1925 these three churches amalgamated to form United Church. The Elphin and McDonalds Corners Presbyterians remained independent.

The English settlers, though far outnumbered by the Irish and Scots, had, by 1850, built St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Lanark and established a parish reaching from Brooke to Innisville.

The Baptists were first organized in Lanark area in 1889. Lightning destroyed the first church and when the second burned down in 1959, they purchased the current building from St. Andrew’s. It had originally been the Congregationalist church.

The Roman Catholics of the area had to walk to Perth to attend Mass until 1856 when they built St. Patrick’s in Ferguson’s Falls. St. Columbkill in McDonalds Corners was constructed in 1893. Sacred Heart in Lanark followed in 1902.

Reflecting a history of cooperation (Presbyterians helped construct St. Columbkill), the Lanark area clergy, unique in that they meet over lunch every week, hold ecumenical services throughout the year and jointly support community initiatives such as the Food Bank and the Christmas Box program.

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