This Anglican Church was built in 1882 to serve a small group of English settlers who had arrived the previous summer in an area that would later become part of the Municipality of Oakland (today, the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa). Located approximately 22 km south of Brandon, the community eventually took its name from its first postmaster, Samuel Rounthwaite. The church was completed under the direction of Samuel’s brother, Reverend John Frederick Rounthwaite (1839-1883) using pre-cut lumber brought from Winnipeg by steamboat then overland by ox cart from the Assiniboine River.
Formerly located at the site of the Rounthwaite Cemetery, the church was moved east to Rounthwaite in 1892. Over the years the congregation dwindled and, in the autumn of 1982 after a hundred years of service, the church was formally closed. In 2002, the building was moved to its current site in Wawanesa, next to the Sipiweske Museum. Now a provincially-designated historic site, a commemorative plaque was erected in 2007.
St. John the Divine Anglican Church at Rounthwaite (October 1978) by Lawrence Stuckey
Source: Lawrence Stuckey Collection, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University, 1-2002.3.3.CNR[191b]
St. John the Divine Anglican Church (July 2003)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
St. John the Divine Anglican Church (July 2018)
Source: George Penner
Interior of the St. John the Divine Anglican Church (July 2003)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.59330, W99.68377
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Building / Sipiweske Museum (102 Fourth Street, Wawanesa, Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rounthwaite Cemetery (Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rounthwaite Churches Monument (Rounthwaite, Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Provincially Designated Historic Sites
St. John the Divine Anglican Church, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch
We thank Carole Smith and George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Maria Zbigniewicz.
Page revised: 27 December 2022
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