LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Christmas Day took on additional importance for the parishioners of St. David's Anglican Church.

Rev. Chris Davis, left, and parishioner Stephen Rowan stand at the pulpit in St. David's Anglican Church. The pulpit has been in the church since the first building was constructed in 1862. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

On Dec. 25 the church in Fort Simpson celebrated its 80th birthday. The church's history, however, stretches back an additional 68 years.

The first church to bear the name St. David's was built by Rev. William West Kirkby who arrived in Fort Simpson in June 1859. The church, a log building located near the Mackenzie River, was ready by Easter 1862.

Time, however, took its toll.

"It was a log building, it was leaking air very badly," said Stephen Rowan, a parishioner at St. David's and a local historian.

The Hudson Bay Company donated land for the church and its employees regularly helped chink the cracks that formed between the logs.

"It was quite the job," Rowan said.

The existing church was built in 1930 from a kit brought to Fort Simpson by the sternwheeler The Distributor. Rev. Franklin Clarke began construction beside the log church with the help of a British student from Emmanuel College in Saskatoon who was referred to only as Mr. Martyn.

Martyn, unfortunately, knew next to nothing about carpentry. Clarke recorded in his journal that at one point he made a door two feet too tall among other mistakes.

Bishop Geddes oversaw the completion of the construction after arriving from Fort Smith by plane in October. In spite of the difficulties, the church was ready for its first service on Christmas Day 1930.

Over the years things began to change in the village. Focus shifted from transportation on the Mackenzie River to the winter road that connected Fort Simpson to Fort Providence. As a result the church was placed on rollers in 1968 and moved with a tractor to its current location on what had become the village's main road.

The building's interior still has ties to the church's origins. The pews in the church as well as the pulpit and the lectern all came from the 1862 church.

For Rev. Chris Davis this is the oldest church he has worked in while ministering in the North. Davis has been the minister at the church since June 2009.

Last summer he helped lead a project designed to extend the building's life. The church's foundation had cracks and water was leaking into the basement.

Rowe's Construction was hired to do repairs on the church using a $42,000 loan and a $5,000 grant from the Anglican Foundation in Toronto. The project included digging up the foundation and coating it in a sealant and pouring a concrete floor in the basement where there had previously been a dirt floor.

To meet requirements from the Office of the Fire Marshal a second exit was also built for the basement. The finishing touches will be completed on the project this summer including painting the addition for the exit the same cream colour as the rest of the church, Davis said.

Volunteers from the church are expected to help put up two-by-fours and drywall the basement.

St. David's is unique because it's one of the oldest buildings in the village still being used for its original purpose, he said.

"Hopefully it's good for another 80 years," Davis said.

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