At one time, in the area now served by Hillcrest United Church, there were congregations in Commercial Cross, Union Road, Orwell, Valleyfield, Kilmuir, and both Presbyterian and Methodist in Lower Montague and Montague. Each of those closings have their own stories. This history focuses on Hillcrest.
In the latter 1960's many farm families in Valleyfield were selling their farms and moving to Montague, or beyond. Many of the farm were sold to immigrants whose religeous affiliations were not with the UCC. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the congregation there to maintain its building, programs, and minister. In 1969 the Lower Montague United Church had closed and the congregations merged with that of Trinity United in Montague. The church building was too small for the resulting congregation. Many people now claim responsibility for coming up with the idea to close Trinity, moving the Valleyfield church to Montague and forming one wider congregation. There are motions recorded in the minutes of various committees and congregations; but they don't reflect the long process of discussions. |
In June 1971 when the first section of the Valleyfield Church was travelling on the flatbed across the Valleyfield River at Sutherland's Hill, there were people praying that the bridge would give out and the section would crash into pieces in the river, bringing to an end a project which did not have their blessing. But there were even more people praying for the opposite, that it would make it, and beyond that, that the congregations would make it too, so that one strong congregation would result from the adventuresome move.
It is not the place of this short history to make a judgement on the power of prayer, that is for theologians, but the years have shown that the building, in pieces, did survive the move, and survived it well. The congregations came together in a sixty five year old church building on a new site, and have indeed become one strong congregation offering forms of ministry and caring to its own members and others which they were not able to do alone. At one time, in the area now served by Hillcrest United Church, there were congregations in Commercial Cross, Union Road, Orwell, Valleyfield, Kilmuir, and both Presbyterian and Methodist in Lower Montague and Montague. Each of those closings have their own stories. This history focuses on Hillcrest. but they don't reflect the long process of discussions. As significant as the 1971 move of the building from Valleyfield to Montague was, it was merely another move in a long history of changes to church boundaries and buildings, divisions and amalgamations with the United Church and its predecesors in this area of Kings County. |
