Indian Head Walking Tour Brochure & Map.pdf - Tourism ...

27. 702 Buxton Street:
New Life for St. John the Divine
The original St. John’s Anglican Church was built
south of the CPR tracks, but the town expanded
north of the tracks. In July of 1912, this two-towered
building, Grisdale Hall, opened to serve as both parish
hall and church. Old St John’s Church south of the tracks
was demolished.
The eight tubular bells, which Lord Brassey had
donated to the previous church in 1899, were remounted
in the north tower. When Governor General Lord
Willingdon and his wife, Lord Brassey’s daughter,
visited Indian Head in 1927, Lady Willingdon tolled the
bells her father had donated 28 years earlier.
By 1944, the congregation was out of debt, but had
insufficient funds to build the long-awaited church.
Therefore, on October 28, 1945, Archdeacon William
Jackson officiated at the opening of the white, woodsided
Grisdale Hall as a bona fide church, St. John the
Divine.
In 1958, the basement was renovated to provide a
hall and kitchen for parish functions and Sunday school
classes. In 1987, the interior was lined with wood
paneling, and, in 1996, the church was enclosed in white
vinyl siding.
As the congregation decreased, it could not sustain
the church. In September 2007, the new bishop of
Qu’Appelle Diocese, the Right Rev. Gregory Kerr-
Wilson, and the church’s final rector, the Rev. Cheryl
Johnson, held a service of deconsecration. In 2008, Rod
and Natalie Vance and family purchased the property.
They plan, with the help of an architect, to renovate St.
John’s as their home. During the summers of 2009 and
2010, the building was used as production office for the
crew filming Little Mosque on the Prairie. DT
31