Under the patronage of St. Mary, the Virgin, it is the only church of that name in the Diocese.

Through its 100 years of growth and development, there have been three distinct periods of building.

Stage I: 1881-1953

"Bartonville, Thursday, February 20, 1880.

A meeting was held in the School House to consider the building of a Church. The Rev. C.E. Whitcombe presided. Present were Messrs. W.Syer, Geo.Waller, E.Philpott, J.Powell, R. Parmenter, J. Waller, W.Waller, and several others."

So reads a faded copy of the minutes of the first days of St. Mary's. Names of church members at that meeting are still present among us, marking five generations.

Several meetings followed, resulting in the erection of a little stone church facing north and south (our present sanctuary), the stone for which the parishioners themselves hauled from Webb's Quarry on the edge of the Hamilton escarpment.

St. Mary's at this time is the only building which contains this soft limestone material (others being the County Courthouse and the Hamilton Jail, now both razed). Even then, it was a rare vein of sufficient hardness to be suited to building. If you wish to examine the front wall of the church, you can still see the fossil holes, reminiscent of an early age when the escarpment was covered by water.

St. Mary's was built on land given by Mr. William Syer, one of the founding members, being the corner of his farm land. The cost of the building was $2,500, toward which a substantial donation was received from England. A stone in the front south-east corner reads:

"A donation was made to the Building Fund of this church by St.Margaret's Church, Gloucester, England."

Several attempts to discover this English Church have been made without success.

The corner stone was laid by Mr. Adam Brown, Post Master and prominent citizen of Hamilton, on June 23, 1880. Mr.Brown's picture and the trowel used on that occasion are on display in the Warden's Office - the kind gift to us of the Hendrie family of Toronto.

The Church was dedicated on November 9, 1881, by the Rt. Rev. Brock Fuller, first Bishop of Niagara. A Spectator notice records the clergy present - Rev. Rural Dean Osler (Dundas), Rural Dean Holland (St. Catharines), Canon Read (Grimsby), Canon Worrell (Oakville), Canon Belt (Burlington), Canon Houston (Niagara Falls), and Revs. A.J. Bell (Hilsbury), J. Smith (Tapleytown), R.S. Radcliffe (Luther), W.R. Clark (Ancaster), and J. Geoghan (Flamborough).

For the record, a Mr. Carter is recorded as the Architect and Mr. Mulligan, the contractor, of the little church.

Stage II: 1953 - 1967

The city of Hamilton was experiencing rapid growth and in 1948 the village of Bartonville and surrounding area was annexed by the city. The little church of St. Mary could not accommodate the number of people attending its services. The number of names on the parish list exceeded 700, the number of children in its Sunday School 450.

Expansion of the church facilities was overdue in 1953. To meet this need and to retain the original church, it was decided to add a nave by removing the west wall, and to retain the original church as the sanctuary of the new church building. The nave had a seating capacity of 300 and was built upon a basement of the same size. A seperate parish hall and kitchen still served the parish, although the separation from the main building made much activity inconvenient.

The Bishop of Niagara, the Rt. Rev. W. E. Bagnall, dedicated this interesting building on the Freast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, March 25th, 1954.

At the service of dedication, the Bishop gave to the Parish the deed to the parcel of land which extends from the little church to the house at the corner of Cameron and Kind Streets, our present property.

As a personal gift, Bishop Bagnall gave a lovely cross in Blue and Gold finish, which adorns the wall of Bartonville Hall at this present time.

The Architects of this second building project were the firm of Husband, Robertson, Wallace of Hamilton; the contractor was Canadian Engineering Co. Ltd. of Hamilton.

Stage III: 1967 -

1967 - the year of the Centennial of Canada as a Nation seemed an auspicious occasion to complete the building plans of St. Mary's Church.

By the vision of our architect, Mr. Charles Lenz (whose own family roots were in this parish) the church was made into the lovely, unified structure which it now is.

The old parish hall was razed to make way for a much needed parking lot. Parish activities were enhanced by additional halls, commodious kitchen, cupboarding and office space, all under one roof.

A lovely chapel, named by Bishop W.E. Bagnall at its dedication 'The Chapel of the Holy Family', was a fine addition. The Chapel reredos and altar, the gift of the Anglican Church Women and the Syer family respectively, fit in well with the dedication name and that of our Patron Saint.

The chruch's decor and furnishings were in the hands of the Architect and Toronto artist, Mrs. Dora DePedery-Hunt. The cross, candlesticks, and flower vases are of hammered copper, the work of a Toronto silver-smith. The sanctuary chairs are covered with a blue material hand woven by Toronto craftsmen. The furniture is the work of the Globe Furniture Company of Waterloo.

The front wall was stripped of plaster and refinished, filled with concrete mixed with yellow colouring to give it warmth. The spacious chancel gives an impression of one's front living room and lends itself so well to modern worship. The windows have been maintaineda dn added to throughout the various alterations. The Shepherd window, now moved to the west wall, required replacement.

The building was completely free of debt by 1972, due to a gracious bequest by John and Edith Halliday, members of this Parish. Mr. Halliday is commemorated in the window adjacent to the Font; Mrs. Halliday in the lovely sitting room in our Church basement.

People who express wonder at the size of the building, deceiving from the street appearance, should realize that there is very little waste space, due to the building being served by one relatively small, central stairway.

Memorial gifts are fully contained in a book in the Church Vestibule, beautifully recorded by the skill of Mr. M. A. McWhinnie, who also prepared the book containing the names of all Church Wardens, Clergy and Lay Delegates through the years.