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Greg, Bonnie, Nicole, and
Ashley are working a double
bingo Tuesday night.
Audrey presented the club
with a banner from the
Nordonia Hills, Ohio club
and passed it around for
everyone to get a better
look at.
Board elections will be next
month.
There is a sponsorship
meeting on Thursday at noon
(9 Ursuline ave). Bring your
lunch.
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 David
Bulter is the current chair
of the Mary Webb Centre
Future Uses Committee. He
retired in 2007 and moved to
Highgate along with his wife
Ann. He had been a director
of Alumni Affairs and
Assistant Director of
Development at Ryerson
University, Toronto and Vice
President, Museum Placement
Services, Toronto. David’s
hobbies include photography
and he was looking forward
to a nice quiet retirement
except fate intervened when
he attended a public meeting
concerning the future use of
the Highgate United Church a
year ago.
David spoke about the
adaptive re-use project for
the Highgate United Church
and began by giving a brief
history of the building.
 In
1832 Mary Webb Gosnell and
her 7 children arrived from
County Cork in Ireland. Her
husband, Joseph, died en
route in York and Mary took
over the land grants in
Orford Township and cleared
the farmland.
She was very disappointed
when she quickly discovered
that there were no churches
in the area and started a
church in her own living
room. Between 1834 and 1870
there was a succession of
church building, each bigger
than the last but still
quite simple in design. Rev
T.T. George, without an
architectural background,
designed a new church based
on various designs. Over
2000 people attended the
laying of the cornerstones
on June 22, 1898.
Interestingly, David noted
that he has the original
documents from Rev George.
In 1917, disaster struck
when the church burned to
the ground. While the cause
was unknown David noted that
there were large wood stoves
in the basement and
electrical wiring that could
have been the culprit. In
1918 the church was rebuilt
using the original specs
with minor changes to the
first design. The church has
a very unique design and is
reported to be only one of
two like it in North
America. For many years the
church was an active parish
with an original seating
capacity of 400 people.
Architecturally the church
has been very stable since
1918 and had not moved!
Unfortunately fewer and
fewer people were attending
the church, there had been
no Sunday school in over 20
years, and the average age
of the congregation was
about 70. Two years ago the
decision to close the church
was made and the last
service was held on June 27,
2010.
A volunteer committee had
been formed to find a
creative re-use of this
important heritage building
and many ideas have been
brainstormed. Suggested uses
have included: creating
parenting centre, senior
centre, tea room, classes,
meeting space, historic
displays, wedding and other
special events, workshops,
lectures, concerts, artisan
studios.
There are many artisans in
Chatham-Kent (we have more
chainsaw carvers than any
other area) that could
benefit from exhibit as well
as work space. The church
has beautiful acoustics and
is great for showcasing
musical talent – the next
concert this year (The
Goodlovelies) will be on
November 20 and you can get
tickets at cktickets.ca.
The Ontario Heritage Trust
held a workshop at the Mary
Webb Centre in June and an
architectural study was
completed. David noted that
there are 27 churches for
sale in Chatham-Kent.
Objectives of the Mary Webb
Centre
• Conserve a structure which
has a very significant
architectural and historic
value.
• Foster the continued
existence of Highgate as a
thriving community.
• Encourage development of
the arts and cultural
community in the area.
• Become a must see Highway
401 gateway to Chatham-Kent.
An agreement to purchase the
building is being studied by
the United Church of Canada
and the committee is looking
for a decision this month.
Fundraising will begin to
assist with a few
renovations that will be
needed to bring parts of the
building up to code. The
committee continues to work
with the municipality to
make the Mary Webb Centre
into a thriving community
jewel!
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