St. Paul's

Church History

(a complete history of rectors that have served at St. Paul's can be found here).
St. Paul's Stained Glass Windows above Alter.
The original church was built on the current site during the spring of 1811. Travel by road was difficult and the location was chosen for it's access to the river. Services were infrequent and conducted by Rev. Elias Scovil, Rector of Kingston. The membership of the first vestry gives an indication of the enormous area served by the church - from Rothesay, Upham, French Village and Lower Norton.

The Rev. James Cookson arrived from England as a missionary of the S.P.G. and preached his first sermon as Rector of Hampton on June 27th, 1819. Shortly after his arrival he reported the average attendance at church to be 300 souls, a remarkable comment considering the inconvenience of travel.

Bishop Inglis made an episcopal visit to New Brunswick in the summer of 1826 which occasioned the consecration of the church and the confirmation of 123 candidates.

Four years later, Rev. Cookson returned to his native England, and was succeeded by Rev. William Walker, from Annapolis, Nova Scotia. His duties encompassed the present parishes of Hampton, Norton, Rothesay, Hammond River, and Upham. Only two churches stood at the time, St. Paul's in Hampton, and Christ Church, Norton.

Interestingly, a task for which the church had assumed responsibility was the operation of the ferries at Hampton, Perry's Point and Gondola Point. These interests were relinquished to the government on Feb. 20th, 1856.

Church building continued throughout the area with the completion of St. Luke's at Gondola Point in 1835, followed by St. Peter's in Upham, St. Andrew's in French Village, and Trinity Church in Hammond River, occurring in 1843, 1846, and 1854, respectively. It became clear St. Paul's was in need of extensive repair and that the desired course was to build  a new church on the same site. In 1867 the Ladies Sewing Society approached the parish corporation with the sum of $1,400.00 for the building of such a structure, and two years later Bishop Medley consecrated the new building on St. Luke's Day. Two additional chapels were constructed in Hampton parish - St. Mary's School Chapel followed by the Chapel of the Messiah at Hampton Station. The year 1887 also saw the completion of Holy Trinity Church at Smithtown.

In 1968, due to aging of multiple buildings within the parish, it was found impractical to continue to maintain all the structures, and it was decided to dispose of all except St. Paul's, to which was to be added a full basement. This decision came to fruition in April, 1985.

Over the last 22 years, the congregation remains vibrant and has grown substantially, with two regular services taking place each Sunday. In 2006, the congregation of St. Paul's overwhelmingly approved the process of planning for a new church building, with a very successful capital campaign entitled "Harvesting the Past.... Planting for the Future." taking place later that same year. This very appropriately named campaign epitomizes our respect and honour of our deeply entrenched history, and has us looking forward, to a vision of the future God has for us, in continuing His work.