Located in a parking lot against some greenery, this marker points out something that was and is no…read morelonger. It's next to the beautiful Burgoyne Bridge.
The marker reads, "On this site stood the Anglican chapel, St. Catharines (1795 - 1836), the first public building in the community. The name St. Catharines became associated with the community and the church. By 1797 a log school house was situated just east of this spot. The Parish included a cemetery and a parsonage. An assignment to the church dated Feb. 17, 1796 is the first documented use of the City's name and records the names of the 44 heads of the community's founding families and others from the surrounding area.
"John Backhouse, John Hayner, Jacob Dittrick, Abraham Clendenin, Benjamin Froilick, Henry Smith, Zackariah Hayner, Richard Hayner, Albert Hayner, Adam Haynes, Cornelius Follock, John Decow, Robert Campbell, John Turney, John Brown, William Day, Obediah Hopkins, Peter Hopkins, Asa Waterhouse, John Willson Senr., Hugh Willson, John Kelly, Jonathan Nunn, George Couke, Jacob Upper, Anthony Upper, Petter Wever, George Houver, Stephen Seburn, Philip Metler, Andrew Hanseler, Jacob Bowman, George Keefer, Michael Teattor, Jacob Ball Jr., George Hartsell, John Stevens, Adam Hutt, John Dennis, John Bessey, James Newkirk, Francis Wever, Robert Bessey, Jabish Bessey."
The marker was erected in 1996 by the St. Catharines Bicentennial Committee.
It is not easy to spot, with bronze raised lettering on a brown sign. But it's there.
[Review 1487 of 2024 - 164 in Ontario - 22510 overall]