Early Wellington
St. John's Presbyterian, 1853
St. John's Presbyterian, 1853.
A magazine, printed May, 1895, by St. John's Young Men's Bible Club, at Mr. G. A. Troup's house, has some very
interesting reading matter in its pages. A few extracts are taken from a copy kindly lent by Mr. Troup to the writer:—“About forty-four years ago, 70 residents of Wellington signed and sent Home to the Free Church of Scotland a requisition for a qualified minister.… . In consequence of this the Rev. J. Moir came out with his family in 1853, and conducted Presbyterian services in the Athenaeum. A church seating 150 was built in Dixon Street. When Mr. Moir
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resigned his charge in 1869, Rev. J. Paterson succeeded him, and the church was, after a time, enlarged. As this proved inadequate, the building shown in the magazine as No. 1 design, drawn by Mr. Troup, was removed in 1875 and another building (No. 2 design), which was destroyed by fire on May 9, 1884, was erected. The present building was designed by Mr. Turnbull, and built by Mr. Jas. Wilson.