RIVERSDALE, ONTARIO, CANADA
c/o P.O. Box 273
Teeswater, Ontario
N0G 2S0
Telephone 519 - 392 -
6935
Fax 519 - 392 – 8566
NOW SERVED FROM IMMACULATE CONCEPTION,
FORMOSA
Please Pray for Repose of the
Soul of our last resident Pastor, Father Omer Fagan
R.I.P. November
19, 2000
Buried in Teeswater
Please Pray for Repose of the
Soul of our last Pastor, Father Gordon Kennedy, CSB
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OUR HISTORY
St. Ann's Parish in Riversdale celebrated their
125th Anniversary in 1991.
There is much
historical information about the early days of the Catholic Church in
Riversdale.
Much of the following information was obtained from the History of
Riversdale and Holyrood, published by Rev. W. Goodrow in 1926.
On November 9,
and 29th, 1860, two respective donations of land were made to the church, Jean
Baptiste Cascagnette giving two acres of ground and
Luke Chatreau giving three acres.
In 1861,
Father J. St. Aubin was stationed in Riversdale as
the first parish priest. During Father Aubin's
time, a two and half storey house was erected for the parish priest on the land
South of the present west parking lot. A log
cabin was built to serve as church and separate school in the north-east comer
of the church lot. The school opened on October 24, 1861. On
Sundays, the school became the House of Worship. The cemetery began where
the present frame church stands.
At this time,
the only other priest in Bruce County besides Riversdale's Father St. Aubin, was Father Gstir; Pastor
of Formosa. This gives the reader some idea of the part that Riversdale
first had in the Catholic missionary endeavour of Bruce County.
Occasional
Indian bands roamed through the forest hunting and trapping. Many of them
camped in this locality and on Sunday, some of them were seen at Mass.
It was in 1865
that Father Kelly was appointed Parish Priest of Riversdale. He decided
shortly after his coming that the log cabin which had served as church and
school should not be used any longer for church services. Thus the
cemetery was changed to its present location and the bodies were moved.
Preparations were quickly under way for the erection of the present frame
church which has served the Riversdale parish to this day.
With
characteristic energy and zeal, a beginning was made and the Catholics then
living here combined their efforts in the hewing of timbers, framing the
building, etc., and in the fall of 1866, their House of Worship, was finished
at a very small cost to them.
About the year
1868, Father Kelly made arrangements with the Public School Board that the
Catholic children would attend their school. This was likely the result
of fewer children and the impossibility of paying a teacher's salary. It
wasn't until 1923, that once again, a separate school was established in
Riversdale beside the Church.
In 1910 Father
A. Capps was appointed Parish Priest and it was at this time, that a shed was
built on the grounds with the assistance of Charles Bechler
and the parishioners and that the last vestige of the second parish rectory was
removed.
In 1922,
Father William Goodrow, was appointed Pastor and Riversdale, after years of more
or Iess retrogression had returned to the pristine
glories of its early history, when it was a parish unto itself, again.
In l 923,
efforts began to construct a new Catholic school. Debentures were issued
and the school was built on St. Ann's church property. After months of
unbending effort, the school was finally made ready with full equipment for the
formal opening in January 1924 at a cost of about five thousand dollars.
During 1923,
another important enterprise was initiated and a supplementary parcel of
adjoining property was purchased. A magnificent permanent residence for
the Riversdale parish priest was built on this site directly east of the
church.
Some sixteen
hundred trees were planted on the church grounds with the hope that sometime in
the future they would develop into a miniature forest something akin to the
early days.
In 1941, the
church was raised and a new foundation was substructed.
In 1966, the
St. Ann's Separate School was closed and the children bussed to the new
Chepstow Central School. The Riversdale Catholic Women's League became
the caretakers of the former school and renovated it to become the community
hall.
In 1974, our
rectory was closed and Riversdale became a Mission Church of Formosa and then Teeswater in 1975. Since that time the rectory has been
rented for housing accommodations.
St. Ann's
Church continues to be well received by the Catholics in our community.
We acknowledge the summer people who attend St. Ann's during the summer
months.
We look forward to ensuring St. Ann's Church stays a humble place of
Christian worship for the parishioners of St. Ann's, Riversdale.
Great
Links
Catholic Canada Directory - Canada's premiere
source of all that is truly Catholic
The Diocese of
Hamilton in Ontario
Parishes in Bruce-Grey Counties
Cape Croker (Neyaashiinigming 1st
Nation) - St. Mary email
Cargill - St. Joseph
Carlsruhe - St. Francis Xavier
Chatsworth - St. Stanislaus
Chepstow: Mary Immaculate email
Collingwood - St. Mary
Dundalk - St. John the Evangelist
Durham - St. Peter
Formosa - Immaculate Conception
Glenelg - St. John
Hanover - Holy Family email
Hepworth - St. Mary
Kincardine- St. Anthony email
Lion's Head - St. Mark
Markdale- St. Joseph
Meaford - St.
Vincent
Melancthon - St. Patrick
Mildmay - Church of the Sacred
Heart
Owen Sound - St. Mary and the
Missions
Port Elgin - St. Joseph email
Riversdale - St. Ann
Sauble Beach - Holy
Family
South Proton - St. Patrick
Southampton - St. Patrick
Stayner - St. Patrick
Teeswater - Sacred
Heart
Tobermory - St.
Thomas the Apostle
Walkerton:
Sacred Heart email
Wasaga Beach - St. Noël Chabanel
Wiarton - St.
Thomas Aquinas
Copyright by WTS November 1997, 1998 – 2015-2016