St Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Kingston, Ontario)

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Kingston, Ontario)
St. Andrew's Church in Kingston, Ontario
Denomination	Presbyterian Church
Website	http://www.StAndrewsKingston.org
History
Dedication	St. Andrew
Administration
Parish	Ontario
Diocese	Presbyterian Diocese of Ontario
Province	Canada

St. Andrew's Church is a Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Ontario. The church opened for service in 1822. St. Andrew's was the centre of Presbyterianism in Upper Canada, and the church was instrumental in the establishment of Queen's College, later to become Queen's University.

Erected in the 1830s by United Empire Loyalists and Scottish immigrants, on its current site -- Princess St. at Clergy St. -- St. Andrew's Presbyterian was the first stone church in Kingston. Later renovations altered the classical Georgian lines of the structure, giving it a distinctly Italianate character. The original church was built on a pine ridge considered of little value, and was “irredeemably ugly” To preside over this new church, the Reverend John Barclay of Kettle, Scotland, was selected to serve as Minister.

Up until 1831, Presbyterian Churches in Canada had no governing body, but there was pressure to create one. On June 9, 1831, St Andrew’s Church hosted a meeting of ministers and elders from four presbyteries: Quebec, Glengarry, Bathurst, and York. The result of this meeting was the creation of “The Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada in connection with the Church of Scotland,” the forerunner to what is today the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

In 1839 it was recognized that there was a need for an educational facility in Kingston to provide training for Presbyterian ministers. Accordingly, a motion was passed at St. Andrew’s that led to the founding of Queen’s University, now one of the top ranked universities in Canada. This motion was seconded by a young lawyer and member of the congregation, John Macdonald, who would become Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada. The St. Andrew’s congregation was also instrumental in getting Queen's past the financial problems of its early years, with the second minister of St. Andrew’s, Reverend John Machar, serving as the unpaid president of this institution for seven years. In 1912 the formal connection between the university and church was severed, but many of the traditions at Queen's still have elements of its Scottish Presbyterian heritage.