living
SCAPES
The Knox Presbyterian Church
C O U R T E S Y O F T H E G A LT M U S E U M & A R C H I V E S
T R I S H P U R K I S , A R C H I V E S A S S I S TA N T
T H E C O R N E R O F Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue South is an important corner in the history of our
city.
Today the Professional Building stands on that site, and from 1953 until 1970, it was an empty lot possibly
set aside for a parking lot. However, in the early 1900s it was the site for the second Knox Presbyterian
Church.
The first Presbyterian Church services were held in Lethbridge in 1885, and the first Presbyterian Church
building, located on the corner of Sixth Street and Fourth Avenue, opened in 1886. A dedication ceremony
was held in February 1886.
Reverend Charles McKillop and his congregation used the small plain church until congregation numbers
increased to the point a larger building was needed.
The second church building was erected on the corner lot of Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue, and the
congregations of the Knox Presbyterian Church, also known as the Knox United Church, and the Wesley
Methodist Church came together as one in 1925. It would be another 10 years before the congregation
moved to its newly named Southminster United Church on 11th Street and Fourth Avenue.
As for the vacated building on the Fourth Avenue corner? It was purchased by the Baptist congregation,
remodeled, and used for their services until fire destroyed it in January of 1953.
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