65 Piper St. Ayr
A church was built in 1864 on Piper Street in Ayr. Administered from Paris in the beginning, the congregation was later placed on the Sheffield Circuit of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. In 1895 that circuit was moved from the Hamilton Conference of the Methodist Church to the Galt District, Guelph Conference.
The 50th Anniversary of the congregation was celebrated on March 11, 1914. In the same year the congregation purchased the pews from Stanley Street Presbyterian Church which had joined with Knox Presbyterian Church on May 31, 1914. On June 6, 1926 the congregation voted in favour of union with Knox United Presbyterian Church, the new church body to be known as Knox United Church. At the time of union the Methodist church was known as the Piper Street Church. Readers may be interested to learn that there is a stone marker across the street from 65 Piper Street, Ayr, which bears the inscription: “This stone marks the site of the Ayr Methodist Church 1864-1926”.
from Waterloo County Churches – A Research Guide to Churches Established before 1900 – by Rosemary Willard Ambrose
Records:
Baptism dates: 1906-1910* Location of records: United Church Archives
Marriage dates: 1906-1926* Location of records: United Church Archives
Burial dates: 1906-1926* Location of records: United Church Archives
*These records are from the “pocket register” of the Rev. Thomas H. Ibbott and are available on microfilm at the Kitchener Public Library. Also at the Kitchener Public Library, on microfilm, are the Quarterly Board Minute Book (Rockwood Circuit) 1870-1886 and the Parsonage Trustee Minutes 1888-1927. Methodist Circuit Marriages 1896-1925 and Baptisms 1906-1926 have been indexed (Huber and Taylor 1991a, 1991d) and are at the Kitchener Public Library as well. *A Marriage and Burial Register 1906-1926 is also at the United Church Archives. At the Archives of Ontario: Baptisms 1906-1910; Marriages 1907; Burials 1906-1910. Wesleyan Methodist Baptisms for Waterloo County c.1830-c.1874 are in an indexed card file at the Kitchener Public Library.
References: Gemmell, WHS 1960(48):67; Methodist Church; A. Taylor 1970:257; R. Taylor 1986.
Church History: Knox United Church, Ayr, Ontario, 1834-1984
Ayr is a village located in North Dumfries Township, Waterloo County. The first settler, Abel Mudge, built a sawmill and gristmill on Smith’s Creek in 1824. At that point it was called Mudge’s Mill. When the first post office was opened in 1840 the settlement was renamed Ayr after Ayrshire, Scotland. The village was incorporated in 1884.
Caption: “Knox United Church, former Presbyterian.”
Excerpt: “There are only two churches in Ayr today, Knox United and Christ Anglican. The Presbyterian congregation disbanded in June of this year after 188 years of continous organization. The Guelph Presbytery had sanctioned the closing of the Ayr Church owing to declining membership…The story told of the Presbyterian congregation being founded at a meeting held July 27, 1834, when 23 names were submitted for membership. The first church, a log building, was built on concession eight, lot 30, at a cost of $155, exclusive of given land and free labour. In 1842-43, the Stanley Street Church was built in Ayr. The second Presbyterian Church in Ayr, known originally as the Free Church of Ayr – it followed the teachings of the Free Church of Scotland – was erected in 1844 on the lot where the Ayr Community Centre now stands. Due to the increase in congregation, the building now known as Knox United Church was built in 1887. This church was built following the union, in 1875, of the Canada Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in connection with the Church of Scotland. As a result, the church became part of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. … from Bruce Murdoch, a Hamilton Spectator photographer, wrote and illustrated a weekly series of articles about small towns and cities in Ontario from November 4, 1950 until August 28, 1965.
His photographs and articles documented a vanishing way of life in Ontario.
fadedgenes 
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