In 1893, members of the Methodist Church Conference established a Mission at St. Charles, which at that time lay west of the burgeoning city of Winnipeg. The Mission supported church services at St. Charles, Headingley, and Rosser. Sturgeon Creek, at the periphery of St. Charles, had a 7:00 pm weekly service. In 1894, the name of the mission changed to the Rosser and St. Charles Mission, with Sturgeon Creek still under its auspices.
By 1906, a new church building was constructed south of Portage Avenue, between present-day Thompson Drive and Woodbridge Road. It opened formally in 1908, named St. James Methodist Church, with the Reverend Alfred Hanna as its first minister. The church would later be moved to Thompson Drive and enlarged. However, in 1922, in the first of several disasters to befall the congregation, the church burned to the ground with the regrettable loss of all its early records. With the dedication of congregants, it was rebuilt and, by 1930, following the merger of the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist faiths, it became known as Sturgeon Creek United Church. In 1933, the Sturgeon Creek Pastoral Charge was formed, with a single minister responsible for congregations at Sturgeon Creek as well as Charleswood, Headingley, and St. Charles.
As the congregation at Sturgeon Creek grew, the need for a larger facility became pressing. In 1948, sod was turned for a new church on Thompson Drive and, a year later, a cornerstone was laid and the old church nearby was torn down. Just a year later, the church suffered another major loss, when a sewer backup destroyed all its records. A new sanctuary built in 1963 was destroyed by fire in 1992 but was replaced two years later by a new building.
An MHS Centennial Organization Award was presented by Gordon Goldsborough to Mr. John Junson, long-time member and Chair of the Board of Trustees, on 19 April 2009.
Page revised: 2 March 2019
