Neepawa United Church History

In Neepawa, the Methodist Church became a part of the Union (United Church) and its membership was joined by 107 members of the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian congregation in Neepawa chose to remain outside the Union.

As a preamble to this historic event, we look backward into the early history of the church in Neepawa and include in the history record a picture and press commentary of what is considered to be the first Methodist church to be build in Neepawa district. This appeared in the Neepawa Press on May 28th, 1896.

"Believed to be the first church build west of Winnipeg, the 'little church' was situated on the correction line 2 1/2 miles west of Neepawa. Built in 1882, it was opened on Christmas Day that year. Everyone brought lunch and, the church being crowded and the day mild, some ate outdoors.


"Those who helped build the church, who helped haul the logs with their ox teams, and then hewed them and built the pews included: John and Sam McKee, John Buchanan, Wesley Petch, Wm. Connell, Mat Kilpatrick, Charles Cameron, Dave Watson, John Howe and Wm. Ash."

One of the pioneers who farmed in the area confirms that the church was a Methodist church and, as memory serves her, one of the ministers was the Reverend Ridd. Pioneers who well remember the church claim that it was opened some years before 1882 as shown in the Neepawa Press on May 28, 1896. The record shows that there was a church in Salisbury district in 1881 and the first Methodist church was build in Neepawa in 1881. The "Little Church" was built some years previous.

The first Methodist church in Neepawa was built on the corner of Ellen St. and Walker Ave. in 1881 at a cost of $1300. The membership was 39. In 1888 the first parsonage was built at 333 Main St. at a cost of $1800. The original structure till stands as a part of the residence which is still occupied. It served as our church parsonage until 1952, when it was sold for $5000, and a temporary parsonage purchased for $6750.

The pioneers responsible for the erection of the church built in 1892 had the foresight to envision the future needs of the congregation for worship services. With the exception of the addition of the balcony in 1923, which seats approximately 75 persons, the structure seating capacity remains almost the same. The original cost of the church building was $8000.

A memorable day in the musical history of the church was January 30, 1921. On that day a pipe organ was dedicated. It replaced the two manual pedal reed organ which had served for many years. The new organ, with its two manuals, foot pedals and 17 stops, was really something. It, however, required an organ pumper. T.H. Hannay was the organist and Arthur Leach provided the manual pumping.


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