Shawville Walking Tour

Religion has always been a very important part of life in Shawville. The spiritual nourishment of the population was seen to in pioneer communities almost as soon as the physical. The churches of town have provided the back bone of the community seeing to the needs of life: welcoming new members into this world, joining them in families, and seeing them off to the next world. Going to church was often a social outing for hardworking families who enjoyed the sermons and the chance to visit with their neighbours. The various denominations in town have gotten along admirably, pulling together when the occasion demanded. It is interesting to note that due to the original settlement pattern in the area, Shawville has no Roman Catholic church. This makes the town rather unique in the province of Quebec.

The United Church is a beautiful building of interesting architecture and as time would prove, sturdy construction. Before the union of 1925 joining Methodists, Congregationalists, and most of the Presbyterians into the United Church of Canada, this was a Methodist charge. The Shawville congregation traces its roots back to 1834 when the Clarendon Methodist Circuit was established. The first Methodist church in the area was built in 1840. The present church, built in 1890 burnt in the terrible fire of 1906.

The fire of September 12th, 1906 broke out in a bakery in the west end of town. In a tragic twist of fate, most of the men in town had taken a special train to the Ottawa Exhibition that morning and were not present to help fight the flames. The fire burned so hot and created such a wind that it is said that pages from the hymn books in the burning Methodist Church were blown to the twelfth line of Clarendon, over six miles to the north. The naked church walls were among the only standing structures in that end of town to greet the men when they returned home from Ottawa.