A historic Manitoba church that has stood at the heart of its rural community for more than a century is now on the market, giving prospective buyers a rare opportunity to own a piece of local history. The United Church in Elgin, located about 50 kilometres southwest of Brandon, was listed for sale last Thursday with an asking price of $35,000. Constructed in 1906, the brick building was originally known as the Grace Methodist Church. Following the unification of the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist denominations in 1925, it became the Elgin United Church. “When I was growing up, it was a huge part of the community… It was full most of the time throughout the 1960s and ‘70s,” said Tracy Hodgson, one of the church’s three trustees. The property features original hardwood floors, a stained-glass window and a basement, along with an electric furnace. The sale also includes the pews, chairs, pulpit and two pianos. “It’s in beautiful shape,” said real estate agent Lori Dmitruk. The building is listed on a 104-foot by 120-foot lot. Dmitruk noted the sale includes all the items inside the church except for Second World War plaques and a painting of the church, which the community is keeping as historical mementos. “It is a fairly rare building to list,” said Dmitruk, who also listed and sold the former Hartney United Church building last year. “I anticipate, unfortunately, that there’s going to be more churches coming up for sale, because they’re just not getting the parishioners to keep the doors open.” Elgin, established in 1898, now has just over 100 residents. Dmitruk said an offer on the listing was received the day after it was listed, noting it’s still pending and must go through final approval with the United Church of Canada. “There’s been a tremendous amount of interest in the churches in the rural communities,” Dmitruk said. “The Hartney church didn’t take long to have an offer on it either.” Hodgson, who grew up in Elgin and now lives nearby in the Municipality of Grassland, said the church once held weekly services, complete with a choir and Sunday school. “There’s a lot of people that we know, the same generation, who have very fond memories of (the church) being a part of their life as youth and young adults,” Hodgson said. She explained the congregation later entered into a shared pastoral charge with Souris, combining resources between the two communities. That arrangement ended in 2015. Services were then reduced to four times a year and more recently to just twice a year—Easter and Christmas. Hodgson said about 75 congregants attended the church’s final service last December, led by Rev. Don McIntryre, who served as the church’s minister from 1981 to 1989. As for what comes next, Hodgson hopes the historic building remains standing. “We would just like to see it being used somehow.”
