Stewart Memorial Church

114 John Street North, Hamilton, Ontario L8R 1H6 [map]
Telephone: 905-522-9755
Email: auchinvole@mountaincable.net

Directions

From Highway 403, take the Main Street exit and merge onto Main Street West. Turn left onto John Street North. The museum is just north of Wilson Street.

Hours

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sundays only; All other times by appointment

Description

Stewart Memorial Church is a wheelchair accessible heritage site. The exterior architecture features a neo-Gothic façade overlying the original clapboard structure. The interior is designated historical for its original pressed tin ceiling and dark wooden curved pews. A heritage corner is set up where photographs, pastors' roster and religious artifacts may be viewed. On the exterior west-facing wall, there is a bronze plaque designating the site of the first Canadian Masonic Lodge of Prince Hall Masons. It also illuminates the connection between the Prince Hall Masonic Order and the Underground Railroad.

The Sunday service is held at 11 a.m. during the winter months and at 10:30 a.m. in the summer. The service features the regular singing of the plantation spirituals as they were passed down from the original members of the congregation who came to Hamilton along the Underground Railroad. The first pastor of the church – then known as St. Paul's African Methodist Episcopal Church – was the Rev. Josiah Henson.