The Stolen Church

By: Charlotte Paton, Heather Harder, and Jozen Corton

The story of the Stolen Church is almost unbelievable.

But it is a a perfect tale of a the power of the Canadian Pacific Railway in our community plus a little dose of small town rivalry. Yet, this tale also highlights the portability, migration, and adaptability of the region.

St. Peter's Anglican church was constructed in the railway town of Donald, British Columbia in 1887. It was a small and modest church, with a signature red roof. In 1897, when the divisional headquarters of the CPR was changed to Revelstoke, the church was supposed to be dismantled and taken to Revelstoke along with the other important buildings. However, the church went missing before it could be sent to Revelstoke. Once it was found, the silver bell was missing.

The town of Donald was mainly a railway and mining town. It was the divisional headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway but in 1897 CP moved its headquarters to Revelstoke. Many people moved to Revelstoke, but many people scattered all over British Columbia. It was agreed that several important buildings would be moved to Revelstoke. CP offered to dismantle and move buildings to anywhere along its line. The process was slow. The church was supposed to be sent to Revelstoke, the town’s were citizens were expecting it.

The silver bell, which weighed over 600 pounds, was donated by Baroness Burdett-Coutts in 1890.

Rufus Ashton Kimpton had been a notable citizen in Donald. When he realized Donald would soon be a ghost town he moved his family South to Windermere, British Columbia. Shown below is the white house they lived in and ran as a hotel, and the general store his brother in law, J.C. Pitts owned. Kimpton had built the house himself in Donald, so it too was moved.

Kimpton's wife, Celina, missed her community in Donald, especially her church community. There was no church in the small town of Windermere. She had attended St. Peter's Anglican Church. Both of her children had been baptized in the church. It was where she and Richard were married. She convinced her husband to return to Donald and bring her church back to her. Rufus, along with some of his friends, devised a plan. They had made selling beer to the CPR construction men in Calgary a side project and easily returned to Donald to take the church.

The church was being dismantled to be sent to Revelstoke, making their task easier. They stole it right from under the town officials’ noses. They sent it piece by piece via the railway and barge back to Windermere. However, not the entire church made the trip. Somewhere along the way the silver bell was stolen and taken to St. Paul's Anglican church in Golden. Despite the missing bell, Kimpton and Pitts rebuilt the church in Windermere.

When the people of Revelstoke discovered their church had been stolen, many were upset. They wrote letters demanding that it be returned, but did not succeed. Likewise, the people in Windermere were upset that the bell had been taken to Golden. There was a large rivalry between Golden and Windermere for over 50 years. In 1957 a group of people from Windermere stole the 600lb bell back from Golden. However, their success did not last long. Town officials made them return the bell, insisting that two wrongs do not make a right. When the bell went back to Golden they even held a small parade for its return.

Today the picturesque St. Peter's Anglican Church is still in use in Windermere and the bell is still at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Golden. These are not the only stolen church bells in Canada. In the summer of 2017 on the Eastern Coast of Canada two church bells were stolen, each weighing upwards of 400lbs. It is believed that these were stolen to sell for money, not for a competition. Only one of the bells were found.

Rufus A. Kimpton:

Kimpton was a well traveled man. He was born June 17, 1860 in South Roxton, Quebec. He left home at the age of 16. Over the next few years he held many different jobs. He was a bell-boy in St. Louis, a hotel manager in Louisiana, and part of a land investigating party in Tennessee. He returned to Quebec, but soon was off again. This time he was went to Western Canada with the railway.

First he settled in Calgary, starting as a handyman, but then establishing one of the first breweries in Calgary. He sold beer by the dozen to the CPR construction men. It was a very successful one man operation. Following the CPR, he then expanded his operation and opened another small brewery near Lake Louise, but didn't stay. He roamed further West and moved to Donald, which was then a busy town. Soon he owned a hotel and general store in Donald, and a string of trading posts throughout the Kootenays. When Donald became a ghost town he had a choice of where to move his family. He owned businesses all over. But he settled on Windermere. The first Windemere school was held one of his log buildings, and he had brought the first church. He remained involved in his community until he died June 4, 1934.

Celina M. Kimpton:

Celina was the wife of Rufus Kimpton. She was January 29, 1864 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the 2nd of 11 children. Her family, the Behans, moved the Pembroke, Ontario and then Winnipeg, Manitoba where her parents operated a store. She moved on and moved to Donald, British Columbia. Here she met Rufus. They were married February 26, 1889. They raised two sons, Clifford and Vaughan, both were christened in St. Peter's Anglican church, increasing her attachment to it. Once the Stolen Church was in Windermere she became an essential part of its community. She played the organ, organized charity events, teas, lunches, musical evenings and more. She passed two years after her husband in 1936.

James Carlton Pitts

Born in 1864 in Ontario, James Carlton Pitts moved to Donald, B.C. in the 1880's. He worked with Rufus Kimpton and was involved in town politics. He was a First Trustee in Donald. In 1890 he married Mary Alice Behan, who had come to Donald to join her sister, Celina Kimpton (Formerly Celina Behan), the wife of his good friend and business partner, Rufus Kimpton. By 1900 he and Mary had 4 daughters: Gladys, Dorothy, Muriel, and Greta. When Donald closed down they also dismantled their house, which he built in 18885, and moved to Windermere with the Kimpton family. He was in involved citizen in Windermere as well. He was part of the Executive Committee which formed the Rod and Club Golf Course. He and Rufus opened a general store. When the partnership split Pitts took over the store, and found a new partner, Mr. Harvey. He and Harvey opened a second store in Invermere. When Harvey died during the first world war, Pitts took over managing the Invermere store, and his daughter Gladys managed the Windermere store. In 1923 he sold the business, after him and his daughter had operated it for 11 years. He died in February of 1935. Mary died 3 years later.

Google Sites

Report abuse