History of St. Saviour's,
Nelson, British Columbia
Part I - In the Beginning

When settlers came to the Kootenays looking for precious metals, the indigenous peoples had extensively harvested the salmon in the Columbia River and food was scarce.

In September 1876, gold was discovered at Forty-nine Creek, nine miles west of Nelson, resulting in a minor rush of prospectors from the United States. After this mineral find was exploited, quiet again returned to the forested valleys and 15 years went by before another rush of people came to the area.

Winston Hall and his family staked four claims known as the Silver King Mines on “Toad Mountain” in July 1887.

With the establishment of a mining camp, people came to support the enterprise; trades people and professionals. On March 18, 1897 the City of Nelson was born when the Letters of Patent were issued.

The Church of England in Nelson

The first recorded Anglican services conducted in the booming settlement on Sunday July 20, 1890, were held in Lemens store located on a very dusty Baker Street. The services were officiated by Bishop Sillitoe of New Westminster on his first visit to the Kootenay Missionary District. The morning service included a baptism and the name “Nelson” was used as one of the Christian names.

Until August 29, 1892, the area was part of the Missionary District of Kamloops. A new Missionary District was set apart and defined by the executive committee of the Diocese of New Westminster. It included the area commencing at Nakusp, following South through the Slocan District, the Kootenay River to Nelson, the West Arm, and both sides of the Kootenay Lake as far as the International Border with the United States.

Father "Pat," The Reverend Henry Irwin

Years earlier, Bishop Sillitoe had sent the Reverend H. Irwin, affectionately known as Father Pat, to the district to visit the men of the mining and railway camps. There is little known about the early services; however, Father Pat earned great respect among the pioneers of the Kootenay.

The following anecdote, recorded in The Nelson Miner, illustrates just how close he was to the lives of those he served:

"Excitement ran high when the score was close, and a fight in which all the players took part was the main attraction. Father Pat edged his way into the centre to act as peacemaker, but emerged from the row with damaged clothing and somewhat bruised; yet he continued in the game until the end. Afterwards, I met him coming downtown on his way to the banquet, he was happy and smiling with two black shiners around his eyes."

His life and work has been the subject of several books. Although closely tied to the church in Rossland, Nelson and all the Kootenays claim Reverend Henry Irwin as their own.

Bishop Sillitoe Returns

A record of services states that the "first services were held at Balfour on Ascension Day, May 26, 1892." The Bishop, accompanied by Mrs. Sillitoe, had made a visit to Nelson two years before this, on July 18, 1890, before the Kootenay-Columbia Railway had been completed. Travelling with great difficulty over the old trail from Sproat's Landing by horseback, they journeyed for ten hours to cover a distance of 28 miles.

The Right Reverend A. W. Sillitoe offered Anglican Services in Nelson in the Oddfellows' Hall on Sunday, noted to be "excellent in the morning" and "overflowing in the evening!" The bishop's wife provided the music on the only organ in town borrowed from a local saloon.

At that time, the Bishop revealed that he had secured a sum of money from a Miss Bertton in England. Local churchmen rallied around the announcement and in a few hours promised to donate $400 toward the building of a church. This set the impetus to buy land on the corner of Silca and Ward Streets.

The Reverend A. J. Reid (1892-1893)

A temporary Mission Room was erected on the site under the direction of the first missionary priest-in-charge, the Reverend A. J. Reid, in the early summer of 1892. The church was seated with seventy chairs and could accommodate forty more. As well as attending to the Nelson congregation, the Rev. Reid attended to the spiritual needs of communities along the Kootenay Lake, all the way to Kaslo.

Writing to the Canadian Churchman in Toronto in September 1892, Rev. Reid stated, "My time is largely spent travelling through the district, chiefly by steamer, and holding services on Sundays and week days wherever I can. Sometimes in barns dignified by the name of a hall, as in Ainsworth, sometimes in the comfortable parlour in a miner's boarding house belonging to the Pilot Bay Smelting Company, and sometimes in the union meetinghouse built of rough boards in Kaslo.

The best I can do is to keep a few church people together and to encourage them to hope for a time when each camp or city will have a consecrated church served by a resident priest. Indeed, one's chief work seems to be that of nursing some six or seven infant congregations. Our biggest infant, just out of long clothes is Nelson."

The Venerable H. S. Akehurst (1893-1901)

In 1896 under the direction of the second incumbent, the Rev. Akehurst, steps were taken for the construction of a more permanent church. In the autumn of the following year fundraising began and by August 1898 sufficient money had been received to start construction of the church. The original mission church was moved to the adjacent lot becoming the church hall and school.

The church, while still in an unfinished condition, was used for the first time, Thursday December 15, 1898. Archdeacon Pentreath, Rev. Henry Irwin, Rev. C. F. Yates, Rev. S. Rhodes, as well as Rev. Akehurst (the Incumbent) being present and assisting in the service.

On May 27, 1900, the first St. Saviour's Church was consecrated by the Right Reverend, the Lord Bishop of New Westminster and solemnly set apart for the worship of Almighty God according to the use of the Church of England.

First wedding

The first wedding in the new church was that of William Richard and Sarah Ann Campion. It took place on December 28, 1898. The couple would raise a family of five girls and three boys.

Creation of the Diocese of Kootenay

At the Diocese of New Westminster synod in 1899, Fred Irving, of Nelson, made a resolution that a new diocese be created. The motion received approval and in due course the Diocese of Kootenay was created. In the spring of 1900, Bishop Dart named Nelson the See City of Kootenay and St. Saviour's was designated as the Cathedral Church of the new diocese.