Until a few years ago the oldest church building in Chatham, and certainly one of the two or three oldest structures in the city, was the Presbyterian church on the south side of Wellington Street West, to the immediate east of the CPR tracks.

This T-shaped brick structure served its congregation from 1844 until the 1890s when it was replaced by a new Presbyterian church at the northwest corner of Wellington and Fifth streets.

With the mid -890s opening of the new Central School, the intersection of Fifth, Sixth, Centre and Wellington streets became one of the most beautiful intersections in small town Ontario.

It was nothing less than spectacular when the stately presence of Harrison Hall was included.

Among the structures mentioned above, only the Presbyterian church survives. Harrison Hall was removed in 1980 and the Central School was replaced by the present-day post office in 1957.

The older Presbyterian church was used for a time by the Wm. Gray and Sons Carriage Company and still later as a mill and warehouse, a part of the........

© Sarnia Observer