St. Stephen's United Church
2000 -Delta Heritage  Preservation Award

St. Stephen's United Church was built in 1891, by parishioners under the supervision of a Delta pioneer contractor, J.B. Elliott. The one acre site of the church was generously donated from the family farm by the McKee family. The total cost of construction was $ 900 and the church opened it's doors (dept free) to its proud little congregation, on September 25, 1891.

St Stephen's was only the third Presbyterian church on the mainland of British Columbia and before it was built, church services were shared by visiting Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries who came by boat, bicycle, horseback or on foot to the little one room school house that later became Butler's Store.

The horse shed at the back of the church was removed in 1909 and an addition provided a much needed inside bathroom, a few Sunday School rooms and room for a wood furnace to replace the old wood stove that sat in the sanctuary. St Stephen's today would be very recognizable and familiar to the people who built it in 1891.

Over a century of loving care has preserved in basically unaltered condition the framework, arched windows and glass, the doors, the wooden siding and other external features. The interior of the sanctuary has the original pews and flooring and decorative angled patterns of the wooden walls among the other features.

The people of St. Stephens are to be commended for preserving this charming country church that serves as a focal point for community life and as one of the important heritage cornerstones on which we all build our sense of common identity as the people of Delta.

Mathew Rodgers