"to help pay the janitor", a noble gesture in view of the fact that during the meeting at which the motion was passed, the treasurer had just reported a bank balance of $18.05.
Other things were still required for the church; like a basement floor and a proper kitchen and plumbing and washrooms. It was the 31st of July in 1913 that the trustees accepted a tender of RM Saunders of fifty dollars to install the sewer. They also sought prices for the installation of lavatories and a sink in the basement. A committee was set up to call for repairs to the furnace, pouring a concrete basement floor, installing pews in the church and fixing the choir platform. The trustees evidently had a crusading spirit that evening in their desire to accomplish all of these things. They were ultimately done, however, and Mr. Robert Carson in his early history of the church, reveals this interesting story of how the money was provided to install the washrooms:

"The young men set themselves to build the Young Men's room in the basement., which later became the kitchen and accommodated the infant class...

"The Y.M.C. took over responsibility for picnics, Christmas entertain-ments, etc. In the fall of 1913, a committee of Mr. Awrey, W.R. Water-man and Robert Carson was appointed to interview Mr. J.R Booth, well known lumber magnate, for the purpose of getting permission to use property at Argyle Avenue and Elgin Street for a comer skating rink. This property was the site of the old Canada Atlantic railway machine shop and still owned by Mr. Booth.

"The committee called at Mr. Booth's residence on Metcalfe Street and received quite a cordial reception. The old gentleman, lounging on a couch, told the committee he had let that property to another club last year and he was sorry, because they left it in bad shape. However, the committee got into conversation with Mr. Booth, Mr. Awrey having some skilled knowledge of farming - so had Mr. Booth, and other sub-jects were discussed; blue clay, locomotives, etc. A very congenial eve-ning was spent with light refreshments being served. One of the visitors said: 'Well, Mr. Booth, should you consider letting us have the use of the property, we promise to leave it in good condition and will sign an agreement to that effect..'

"Mr. Booth promptly replied, 'You men don't need any agreement. To-morrow you will have a letter from my son giving you full privilege to use the property.'

"So, in the winter of 1913 -14 the skating rink was in operation-quite an undertaking but gallantly carried through. Huts for ladies and gents, stoves, hose pipes. fending pay office - all necessary to a well estab-lished rink. A very successful season was experienced. The enterprise finished with a banquet to which J. R. Booth was invited (no rental was charged for the property). A letter was received from Mr. Booth regret-ting his forced absence and thanking the club for the condition the ground was left in and a promise of again using it if so desired.

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The receipts from that venture installed the toilets in the church basement and the club hoped to repeat this venture."

The Young Men's Club was actually the young men's class of the Sunday School which had been given more or less independent status in 1910. It was a very valuable organization of the church as shown in this and other projects, including other skating rinks and tennis courts on the church lawn - said to be among the fmest in the city. Unfortunately, the war of 1914 -18 inteITupted the activities of the organization and it appears to have continued for only a few years after regrouping at the wars end. Notwith-standing, permission was granted the Young Men's Club in the spring of 1922 to build the tennis courts. The interesting provisions accompanying that permission are recorded in the minutes of a trustees meet-ing of April 4, 1922...

"...that this board grant permission to the young men's class of this church to use the church lawn for a tennis court for the summer season of 1922; the tennis court to be constructed and maintained by the club. Permission granted to use the tennis court six days a week, the games on Wednesday evening between eight and nine p.m.. to be quiet. A reservation of five feet from the east side of the church not to be used by the club; damages to the property to be paid for by the club and windows of the church to be protected by screens by the club. The net to be removed from Saturday until Monday of each week, and that at all times there be no objectionable language or conduct, such as dancing or gambling."

That the Board's permission for the project was granted is not surprising since the club, after re-organization in 1919, raised money for a piano purchased in 1923 through the use of model piano banks (an idea used twenty-five years later to purchase a Wurlitzer electronic-reed organ) which they fashioned themselves, and the issuing of five and ten dollar bonds, repayable without interest to those who would indeed accept repayment.

With the gradual decline of the Young Men's Club, the first of a number of attempts through the years to form a Men's Association was made. Its tenure was not a long one, but Wesley's men, organized or not, provided much aid in maintaining and upgrading the church. Even before they were organized into an association, they worked diligently together in turning the sand floor of the basement into one of concrete. Pencilled notes appearing on the pages of Claire Mitchell's History of the Women's Association of Wesley United Church describe the project in the following words:

"...members of the board voluntarily worked from 7 p.m. every night until midnight digging and mixing cement. Wheelbarrows were certainly kept busy, but in due course, a cement floor was laid."

"Robert Carson singles out four particular names as well as others in his mention of the project: George Gillespie, Bert Campsall, Adam Clark and Mr. Saunders. All of these names appear with some regularity in the early recorded thanks and appreciation for their church work. Janitorial and caretaking services were performed in turn by several men and women of the congregation during periods when it was not financially possible to enjoy the services of a full time caretaker.

In 1909, Rev. John Mavety and Edward Seybold, members of the Methodist Social Union, had arranged a mortgage with property owner, Violetta Graham, securing the property in their name. On May

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2O, 1912, the Wesley trustees accepted transfer of ownership from the two gentlemen, having arranged a further mortgage of $2,000 @ 6% with Ms. Graham. The deed. bearing a sale price of $2,825, was not registered. however, until March 5, 1913. Discharge of both mortgages was registered September 29 and 3O, respectively, 1930.

In November of 1915, the decision was made by the Quarterly Official Board to borrow $100 from the Bank of Ottawa by way of a two month note. In May of the following year, the extended note became due and was renewed with an additional fifty dollars for Sixty days. The concern of the Board for the financial picture was made manifest a year later (1917) when the following resolution was voiced:

"Resolved that the Quarterly Official Board of Wesley Methodist Church is of the opinion that in order to have this carried on efficiently during the next few years, it be affiliated with Dominion Church. "

There is no record of this ever happening.

IV

When Wesley Church was built, it faced Hawthorne Avenue. At that time, Hawthorne swept broadly from Echo Drive to Main Street and passed close to the church's front entrance. As early as 1912, word was out that changes were contemplated in the routing of Hawthorne Avenue. Mr. Saunders was appointed by the Official Board in February to approach the City Engineer to learn what effect the straightening of the street would have on Wesley church property. The wheels at City Hall ground slow-ly. It was May 11, 1914 before the trustees were able to register agreement with the City Engineers proposal to open Graham Avenue from Echo Drive to Main Street with the understanding that Graham Avenue would become the main thoroughfare leading from the proposed new bridge (Pretoria) to span the canal. Meanwhile, lawyers acting on behalf of the owners of the land lying north of Hawthorne Avenue (where Hawthorne Avenue is now); people named O'Gara, asked whether the Board would agree to the closing of (the then existing) Hawthorne, providing the cost of altering the church entrance be borne by the O'Gara estate. This altering of the church entrance meant the abandonment of the main door on the north end of the building, and cutting a new entrance into the church's south end. facing the new Graham Avenue. The changes to Hawthorne Avenue would move it northward away from the church and leave a space between the church and the street of about the depth of a residential building lot. The front door of the church would then have opened into the back yard of any houses built on the south side of the relo-cated Hawthorne Avenue. The Board replied to the O'Gara query stating that it would expect compensa-tion of three thousand dollars and replacement of the sidewalk with one equal to the walkway in use that extended from the front door of the church to main Street, at no additional expense to the Board.

Six years after the first recorded interest of the church in the proposed changes, the trustees and representatives from the Quarterly Official Board met to consider a letter received from Mayor Harold Fisher. The letter detailed the planned changes and included figures for the cost of damage to church property that the city was willing to pay. It makes interesting speculation to wonder what the outcome of the whole exercise would have been had the church refused to finally concur. Wesley countered with a request for the city to undertake the following:

The document originally transfering ownership the Main Street-Graham Avenue lot to the Wesley trustee board still exists. It is mainly hand-written and not of clear enough quality to directly reproduce here; so a portion of the deed is transcribed below.

(Editor's Note: This document has been omitted)

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" 1. The street to the north of the church property would be closed and church relieved from further payment on account of pavement or other local improvements.

2. Graham Avenue will be opened nom Main Street to Echo Drive
prior to the closing of Hawthorne Avenue to traffic.

3. The city will put in any local improvements such as sidewalks, sewers, etc. upon request. These improvements will be paid for in the usual way on condition that what has already been paid on sidewalk to the north of the church be applied on new sidewalk on the north of Graham Avenue and that this sidewalk will be built nom Main Street to Echo Drive prior to the closing of sidewalk north of Hawthorne Avenue.

4. The city will pay to the church, $1,800. The church will move the entrance or do anything they deem with the money and that this money be paid to our Secretary within ninety days nom the signing of the agreement between the Church and the City."1

The above resolution was sent to the mayor following approval of lawyer, Mr. AE. Honeywell. By the end of October, 1917, an agreement was finally drawn up, and with the addition of a fifth clause, accepted. The additional clause read:

"5. The Corporation undertakes that prior to the closing of access to church by way of the present Hawthorne Avenue, the Corporation will construct a sidewalk on the north side of Graham Avenue nom Main Street to Echo Drive; the cost of same to be borne as provided by the Lo-cal Improvement Act and by the By-laws of the Corporation."2

No further correspondence is noted regarding the O'Gara matter and nowhere does it appear that the church ever received $3,000 nom that source. A cheque for $1,800 was received nom the City early in 1918, however, and the Board turned its attention to the alterations and renovations made necessary. In due course, several changes were made to the church building. The existing porch was removed and the entrance bricked up. A new brick porch (vestibule) was built on the southeast comer with the en-trance landing providing steps up to the main floor and a stairway to the basement. A Mr. Nelson was employed to supervise and assist in the carrying out of the renovations.

Although some bother and expense must be expected in virtually turning a building around, in Wesley's case, it was not all bad. The same year, the mortgage was reduced by half when $1,000 was re-paid to Mrs. Emma Grist on May 20th, leaving a thousand dollar balance. 3 And, for the time being, at least, building construction, improvements and renovations held a less prominent position in the consid-erations of the congregation.

V

Already in the life of Wesley Methodist Church, the congregation had greeted and bade farewell to five pastors. With frequent changes in pastoral care, one might hope that the church's members,

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its departments and organizations would maintain a cohesiveness and interest in continuing responsibilities that would minimize disruption of their programs through changing pulpit supply. Such hope has been justified throughout the history of Wesley. Leaders and workers were prolific during the church's forma-tive years. It could be open to some debate as to whether it was because the church was new and the novelty attracted attention. or whether it was due to a more devout attitude toward church work in days past, that so much was done by such dedicated pioneers. Either way, in poring over long forgotten hand written accounts of early events and minutes of various organizational meetings, we cannot help but dis-cern a deep moral conviction of the writers in the very terminology and detail they included in whatever they wrote about their church.

By the time the church opened on Hawthorne Avenue - little more than six months - the Sunday School had grown from eighteen scholars, six teachers and a secretary, to a roll of 76 pupils and ten teachers and officers. There were eight classes, including the young men's class.I And the ranks of students and teachers continued to grow. During its formative years., the Ladies 'Aid Society with a member-ship hovering around twenty - not counting a number of honorary gentlemen members-maintained an unbroken series of sales, teas, suppers and lawn socials held beneath a tent pitched on the church lawn. The women at Wesley established at a very early stage, a name for themselves far and wide for the excellence of their church dinners. The affairs were held under very trying conditions for many years. At first, the church lacked proper kitchen facilities. Later, the basement area became too cramped to efficiently serve the many people who showed up at the popular dinners. The usual practice was for the ladies to cook various components of a banquet in their homes and heat those dishes on (or in) the church stove while preparing the rest of the meal as facilities permitted.

The Ladies' Aid Society didn't stop at meals and teas. They accepted responsibility for furnishing the parsonage on Hazel Street, rented for the Rev. J.T.E. Blanchard in 1912. In this, the ladies received much appreciated help from their counterparts at Dominion, McLeod and Ottawa South Churches. The furniture was removed in July of the following year and sold, the $133.65 realized from the sale being deposited in Bank of Nova Scotia account opened for the purpose. 2 Rev. Blanchard was off to another charge and Wesley welcomed Mr. Arthur Willans who occupied the pulpit for a year.

The congregation worshipped and worked together through progressing years and the Sunday School grew to the point where at the Annual Sunday School Rally at Dominion Church on New Years Day, 1917 (incorrectly recorded 1916?), 114 Wesley Sunday School scholars were present to see their superintendent, John Baron. receive from the president of the Methodist Sunday School Association. the banner awarded for the highest weekly average attendance of all city Methodist Sunday Schools. The average 1916 weekly attendance was 107.5. Further work was done on the church basement by the Men's Association and in November of 1921, the Official Board considered a letter from the Secretary of the Methodist Conference. The letter asked that the Board vote on the question of extending to women, equal rights and privileges with men to become probationers and ministers of the church. A ballot vote was taken and the result was three in favour; eleven opposed.

A very important event in the life of the Methodist Church was approaching and surprisingly little reference is made to it in the official writings of Wesley. Church Union. Perhaps the people at Wesley were not particularly excited at the prospect; we simply don't know. Picturing Wesley Methodist Church during the years approaching union: the Sunday School enjoyed 8 membership of 125 in 1923 with an average weekly attendance of 58 - down considerably from a few years earlier but still ten more than average church attendance. The minister's salary had dropped to $700 and the year ended with a fi-nancial deficit.