Robertson-Wesley United Church is a church located a short distance west of the

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

of the city of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the neighbourhood of Oliver. Robertson-Wesley is a congregation of the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

. The current congregation was formed in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

when the congregations of Robertson United Church and Wesley United Church merged. The new congregation moved into the Robertson United Church building. The church building is an example of High Victorian Gothic Revival architecture featuring a barrel vaulted ceiling, curved pews, and excellent acoustics.

Predecessor churches

Robertson United Church (Robertson Presbyterian Church)

Robertson Presbyterian Church was formed in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

as an offshoot of First Presbyterian Church. The first meetings of the new congregation were held in the basement of First Presbyterian until a new building was built in

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

. The new congregation was named for Presbyterian Missionary Superintendent James Robertson.Peyton, Amy (n.d.) ''One Body in Christ, A History of Robertson-Wesley United Church'' Robertson Presbyterian soon outgrew its original church building, and a new building was constructed on the north east corner of 123 Street and 102 Avenue in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

. The first service was held in the new building in early

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

. In

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Italia ...

, the membership of Robertson voted to join the

, which was founded that year. The name of the church changed to Robertson United Church. In 1971, Robertson formally merged with Wesley United Church, forming Robertson-Wesley United Church.

Wesley United Church (Wesley Methodist Church)

Wesley Methodist Church was founded in

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. ...

. It was the fourth Methodist church established in Edmonton on the north side of the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

, the other three being McDougall, Norwood and Grace.Grace, now Grace United Church, is now located south of the river. Originally, the congregation of Wesley met in a tent, but soon moved to a new wood-frame church building located just north of Jasper Avenue. Like Robertson, Wesley outgrew its original building, and in 1913 moved to a new building on the south west corner of 117 Street and 102 Avenue. The congregation continued to use this building right up to the end of

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. In 1925, the membership of Wesley voted to join the United Church of Canada. The name of the church changed to Wesley United Church. In 1971, Wesley merged with Robertson United. Arrangements were made to incorporate many memorials from the Wesley church building into the Robertson church building. The Wesley building was later sold to the Canadian Native Friendship Centre. Funds from the sale were placed in trust for community development.

Notable people associated with Robertson-Wesley

* Rev. L. Bruce Miller, former minister elected to the Alberta Legislature in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

External links

"Robertson-Wesley United Church website
{{coord, 53.5433, N, 113.5336, W, source:wikidata, display=title Churches in Edmonton United Church of Canada churches in Alberta Gothic Revival architecture in Edmonton Municipal Historic Resources of Edmonton Music venues in Edmonton Christian organizations established in 1971 Churches completed in 1910 20th-century Presbyterian churches Gothic Revival church buildings in Canada