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Knox Presbyterian Church and Cemetery - Digital Archive
The Digital Archive and complementary Interactive Heritage Register Map are initiatives to provide historical information regarding properties included on the Township’s Heritage Register. The Digital Archive only includes properties which have consented to include their heritage property on this archive.
We recognize that when the first Euro‐Canadian settlers arrived in what is now Puslinch Township, the Anishinaabe ancestors of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation had long established hunt camps in the area. Through written and verbal accounts we understand that the Anishinaabe interacted with the settlers in a friendly and cooperative manner. It is acknowledged that the development of the Township encroached upon their traditional way of life resulting in their displacement.
Knox Presbyterian Church and Cemetery
Biographical Info
The Knox Presbyterian Church was built in 1882, on land originally belonging to Alexander Fraser. Previously, a frame church stood on the site from 1854 to 1882. A model of the 1854 frame church is in the collections of the Wellington County Museum. The current yellow brick schoolhouse-style church with front gable was contracted by Duncan McPherson and Scottish mason William McDonald. The Crieff Presbyterian Cemetery is on the same lot, opening in 1854, when the original frame church was built. Although starting to the east of Knox Church, today the Crieff Cemetery surrounds the building.
The property is historically associated with Scottish immigration, Gaelic language, and Colonel J.B. McLean. McLean’s father was Minister of the Church and brought over from Scotland because he could speak Gaelic. Gaelic services were held in the church until the early twentieth century.
Categories: Decade Built – 1880s, Decade Plaqued – 2000s, Historical Association – Scottish/Scotland, Materials – Brick, One-storey, Schoolhouse Style