 By John Hamer, Canada East Mission Centre Historian A tour bus loaded with 30 church heritage enthusiasts spent Thanksgiving weekend in Toronto as part of the 2025 Drawn from the Nations of the World Community of Christ Historic Sites Foundation (CCHSF) tour. Canada was the first country where the church was established after its 1830 organization in the United States, and a congregation was first organized in Toronto in 1836. Apostle Heber C. Kimball predicted by revelation that fellow Apostle Parley P. Pratt would “go to Upper Canada, even to the city of Toronto, the capital,” where he would “find a people prepared for the gospel.” During a missionary trip to the city, Pratt and five companions met John and Leonora Taylor, who were part of a small group of religious seekers dissenting from the Methodist church. After a good deal of preaching and discussions, the Taylors and many members of their group were baptized into our church, forming the nucleus of the original Toronto Congregation. The Taylors lived on Duchess Street (now renamed Richmond Street), just two blocks west of the present-day Centre Place church. The CCHSF tour group also visited the sites of St. Andrew’s Market, where the Toronto Congregation rented a meeting space in the 1890s, and the sites of the former Camden Street Church (1900–1906) and the former Soho Street Church (1906–1926). At the turn of the 20th century, Toronto was home to R.C. Evans, perhaps the greatest orator in the history of our church. Beginning in 1905, the congregation leveraged Evans’ talents by renting out the largest theatres in the city, filling them to capacity — including Massey Hall, one of the sites visited by the tour. The tour also visited Nathan Phillips Square, Sankofa (formerly Dundas) Square, the historic Distillery District, Polson Pier, and went on a walking tour of historic sites in Toronto’s Old Town neighbourhood (where Centre Place is located). The visit to Centre Place included viewing historic books, photographs, documents, and artifacts preserved in the Doris Hillyard Library, including the Dale & Judy Luffman first edition Inspired Version of the Bible (1867) and the Clair Shepherdson Saints’ Harp hymnal (1871). On Sunday morning, the tour took part in a special hybrid Beyond the Walls service, getting to see firsthand everything that goes into producing the livestream. In addition to stops at Toronto and Niagara Falls, the tour visited heritage sites in Independence, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Lamoni, Iowa; Nauvoo and Plano, Illinois; and Kirtland, Ohio. CCHSF is a church affiliate charged with supporting historic sites including Heritage Plaza in Independence, Liberty Hall in Lamoni, and the Stone Church in Plano. In addition to raising funds and supporting historic tours, the foundation has created a wealth of resources including the Children in Church History lesson plan series. You can learn more and access these resources on their website. References [1] Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow, Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (Oxford: 2011), 83. |
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