Homer's Last Stand

There is an old saying about being in the right place at the right time. The opposite could be said for the almost entirely unknown village of Homer, just east of the city of St. Catharines at Ten Mile Creek.

Homer had the unfortunate luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Welland Ship Canal and the Queen Elizabeth Highway would eventually seal Homer’s fate. There is little to mark its presence except for the Homer Burial Ground. Even the Ten Mile Creek has disappeared, replaced by the 4th Welland Canal. And very shortly, 225 years of history will be completely lost. The last of Homer’s buildings will also disappear: St. George’s Anglican Church.

It has survived many changes, as this is the 4th iteration of the church. Between 1792 and 1795, it was originally built as nothing more than a log cabin. That was replaced by a more formal place of worship in 1872, but it only lasted 40 years before the structure failed during World War I. It was rebuilt in 1913 and “Version 3.0” lasted 50 years before the land was expropriated by the Department of Highways to make way for the Garden City Skyway. At that time, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation leased undeveloped land to the church and the current building was erected in 1961. The area around it continued to be largely undeveloped and the church has stood as a lone building occupying the eastern base of the Skyway for decades. However, the arrival of a letter from the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation in 2014 proved to be a pivotal moment for the parish. The letter stated the Seaway had deemed the land on which the church building stood to be surplus, and they no longer intended to lease it to the parish. The decision may or may not have to do with the MTO’s plan to twin the Garden City Skyway in 2025.

Unable to purchase the land for themselves, the end has finally come for St. George’s. Sadly, with its large, open brick walls facing the QEW, it was a coveted, high-visibility target for graffiti vandals. They defaced the church less than two months after it was shuttered. Intruders later used stacked wood and a ladder to descend into the inner courtyard and access the interior of the building, leaving the outer perimeter insecure. With a flooded basement, black mold, and summer plant growth creeping across wet carpets inside, the church has quickly come to fit the typical “abandoned” description. 

“It’s been a difficult journey,” said Reverend Dorothy Hewlett, “but one that was undertaken with integrity and God’s love.”