The National Presbyterian Museum was established by founding Curator, the late Rev. Dr. John A. Johnston, of MacNab Street Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, Ont., to exhibit artefacts that help tell the story of faith of Canadian Presbyterians. From its modest beginnings in a storage space in a Hamilton church in 1996, the Museum officially opened in the renovated lower level of St. John’s Presbyterian Church at 415 Broadview Avenue, Toronto on Sunday, September 29, 2002.

For 16 years, St. John’s Church in the Riverdale district generously hosted the Museum. With the need of the congregation to redevelop its 1908 building, it became necessary for the Museum to search for a new home.

In October 2018, the National Presbyterian Museum closed its Toronto site. The collection of the National Presbyterian Museum was transferred to the Advisory Committee of the Presbyterian Church Heritage Centre (PCHC).

The Presbyterian Church Heritage Centre will open in 2023 in Carlisle United Church in the village of Carlisle, ON (the Carlisle that is located in the Municipality of North Middlesex, 6 kms east of Ailsa Craig).

Curator Ian Mason is responsible for packing the collection of the former National Presbyterian Museum and preparing an inventory.

Marilyn Repchuck, Chair of the Presbyterian Church Heritage Centre’s Advisory Committee, is looking forward to the launch of our fund-raising campaign that will begin in conjunction with General Assembly 2021.

Land Acknowledgement

“The earth is the LORD’S and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein!” (Psalm 24 verse 1)

Before anyone walked on this earth, the land and the waters were the Creator’s, and so they continue to be. Before we broke off into separate tribes, ethnicities, and nationalities, we were God’s children, and so we remain.

We respectfully acknowledge that Carlisle United Church worships on land covered by Treaty 29 signed on August 13, 1833. We offer our gratitude to the First Nations Peoples for their care of, and teachings about, our earth and our relations.

The Crown granted this parcel of land to Duncan Stewart. In 1856, Stewart sold a ½ acre property to the Trustees of the United Presbyterian Church of Carlisle, East Williams Township, Canada West (now functioning as the Trustees of Carlisle United Church, Carlisle in the Municipality of North Middlesex, Ontario).