Fate of historic Madill Church still unknown

With files from Tamara de la Vega

The poor condition of one of Huntsville’s oldest buildings, Madill Church, came to light in August of this year but it’s still not known with certainty what action its owners, Living Waters Presbytery of the United Church of Canada, intend to take.

At that time, the local trustees of the church said that the presbytery had “informed us that they are giving us permission to proceed with demolition unless the town of Huntsville is willing to take it over.” The Town had not received – and has still not received – an application for demolition, as is required for a building denoted as a property of heritage interest.

At the Municipal Heritage Committee meeting earlier this month, the Town’s Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Teri Souter, presented a report to inform the committee on the current status of the building.

Souter’s report states that the church – which was built in 1873 – has visible holes and rot and is leaning. A report that was gifted to the trustees by a member of the public regarding the repairs needed, including an initial estimate of the cost of repairs at $300,000, has not been reviewed by Town staff, said Souter.

Souter along with the Chair of the Municipal Heritage Committee, Councillor Jason Fitzgerald, met with members of the Madill Church board of trustees twice in October, including a site visit. They discussed possible options for the church, including crowd-sourced funding via social media, potential funding programs, the potential for in-kind donations from concerned citizens, selling it to a private party, and moving it to Muskoka Heritage Place’s Pioneer Village, although the village already has a church from the same time period and that effort would be costly. There are also concerns about the structure’s ability to withstand a heavy snow load during a harsh winter.

All agreed that the building has historical significance, and investigation into how to preserve it is a worthwhile endeavour.

Souter indicated that Town staff would be willing to invest time to investigate solutions, provided that the presbytery is willing to commit to keeping it open to the public and maintaining it.

It is critical to get confirmation from the owner (the presbytery) that they will commit to keep property open. There is no point in doing all the work if the owner is not going to honour the donation for a period of a minimum of 20 years, from time of repair.A report to the Municipal Heritage Committee by Teri Souter

The chair of the trustee board, Doris Monahan, has been tasked with pursuing a response from the presbytery prior to further investigation of funding or work campaigns. She said she received a verbal agreement that they would keep it open “and look after it”, but she said she’d prefer to get that in writing. “And that’s what I’m waiting for,” she said. “By the same token, if you look at the way churches are going in society, maybe the church won’t be here in 20 years,” said Monahan, referring to churches in general.

Official confirmation from the presbytery is anticipated before the end of January 2017.

Councillor Nancy Alcock said she’s received many calls from members of the community who would love to step up and preserve Madill Church, “because it’s such a gem in our community. I just want to put that on record, that whatever we can do to make that happen, and I see that in the note here that you guys are all over it, and I’m happy about that.”

Related stories:

Board of trustees says Madill Church needs significant work to prevent demolition

What will be the fate of Huntsville’s historic Madill Church?

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