College Street Baptist Church was a former

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church at the northwest corner of College Street and

Palmerston Boulevard Palmerston Boulevard is a residential street located in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, two blocks west of Bathurst Street, between Koreatown and Little Italy. The street is bounded by stone and iron gates both at Bloor Street and College ...

in the

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

neighbourhood of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada.

History

The

denomination in Ontario, Canada formerly had an organization called a "Union," for the purpose of carrying forward mission work in eligible portions of the city, and from this work developing self-sustaining congregations. Out of this work sponsored mostly by congregations at

Bond Street Baptist Church Bond Street Baptist Church built originally in 1848 represented the first permanently established Baptist congregation in the city of Toronto (then York), Canada. Background At the outbreak of the War of 1812, Baptist life in Ontario was littl ...

, Alexander Street Baptist Church, and Yorkville Baptist Church (see Yorkminster Park Baptist Church), College Street Baptist Church was organized as a church on the 15th of December, 1872 with Hoyes Lloyd as the first pastor. The congregation originally built a small building at the corner of College St. and Lippincott. This property was subsequently sold in 1888 and a new building was constructed at College St. and Palmerston Boulevard with its first service held in September 1889. Early pastors include: S. A. Dykes and Robert Holmes. In February 1886 Stuart S. Bates became the pastor and under his able leadership the church began to once again grow and prosper. Around the year 1960 the congregation had dwindled to a small number of mostly elderly members. At that time it was decided to close the church and the remaining members to attend neighbouring congregations. The church building was subsequently sold to the Portuguese Seventh-day Adventist Church (Toronto); see this latter article for the subsequent history of the building. In 2007, the building was sold to developer Matthew Kosoy who turned this College Street landmark into four large multi-level luxury freehold homes.

References

* {{Coord, 43, 39, 22, N, 79, 24, 38, W, region:CA-ON_type:landmark_source:GoogleEarth, display=title 19th-century Baptist churches Baptist churches in Toronto 19th-century churches in Canada