The recent work to repair the spire on the Campbellton Lot 4 United Church has been completed and your readers may want a brief account of this historic building, one of the oldest churches on the P.E.I.
It was built in the early 1840s, not as a church but as a merchant’s store and tavern. The builder was James MacLauchlan, a merchant from the Miramichi, N.B., and a distant uncle of former premier Wade MacLauchlan.
James was lost at sea in the mid 1840s and within a few years, the Presbyterian pioneers on the O’Halloran Road acquired his store and turned it into a church. The spire was built and the roof raised in 1902, by John Doyle.
Like all churches whose congregations have disappeared, it has been a struggle to keep this important building.
The community of Campbellton is fortunate that there are still people who take it upon themselves to work for the common good.
This community owes a debt of thanks to several people who still follow the customs and traditions that good neighbours and community-minded people have always followed.
To Ronnie and Lorna Costain and Fenton and Hazel Shaw, the community says “thanks till you're better paid”.
John Cousins,
Campbellton
