Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church (Skaro)
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Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church (Skaro)

The original church on this site was built from 1901 to 1904. A second, larger church was started in 1917 and completed the next year. Between 1945-51 funding for a new church was gathered with the old church being dismantled in 1959 and a new church, the present structure, was completed in 1960. This solid-looking…

St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Peno)
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St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Peno)

Without the Orthodox cross mounted high on the steeple of this church, this church could pass for a United Church. That’s because it originally was a United Church. As the “Lamont County’s Self-Guided Church Tours” booklet explains, a number of local people became disenchanted with the Catholic Church I the area and in 1925 started…

Holy Trinity Russo Orthodox Church (Old Wostok)
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Holy Trinity Russo Orthodox Church (Old Wostok)

On July 18, 1897 two priests sent to this area from Seattle celebrated the first Orthodox liturgy sung on Canadian soil for some 380 settlers who had gathered at a homestead across the road from this the original church “Wostok” church, about 1 mile north from the present church. A church and cemetery were completed…

Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church
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Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church

After a small chapel was built on this land in 1914, work on the present church began in 1918 and was completed eight years later in 1926. The full name of the church when it was incorporated was “Ruthenian Greek Catholic Parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Leeshore”. The church bell…

Holy Ascension Russo-Greek Orthodox Church (Skaro)
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Holy Ascension Russo-Greek Orthodox Church (Skaro)

Little did I know when I visited this church that this congregation “can be traced back to 1897–1898, making it one of the first Russo-Greek Orthodox parishes in Canada.” A modest log church was built on this land at that time and served until 1920. The logs from that church were saved and sawed into…

Exaltation of the Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church (Skaro)
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Exaltation of the Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church (Skaro)

The original church on this site, then called “Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church of Chesnoho Khresta at Skaro”, was built from 1900 to 1917 and was destroyed by fire in 1942. The present church was built in 1945. The bell tower, however, is the original built in 1920. This is a very impressive church, first because…

Roman Catholic Church of the Precious Blood
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Roman Catholic Church of the Precious Blood

A small church was built on this site in 1907 and then replaced by the current building, built in 1934-35. This makes it the oldest Polish parish in Alberta. Although the paint and the steeple need some work, it seems to me this building stands tall and proud. These days, mass and grave blessings are…

St. Demetro Ukrainian Catholic Church
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St. Demetro Ukrainian Catholic Church

The St. Demetro Ukrainian Catholic Church you see today is the third iteration of the church. In the past, it was nicknamed “The Farm” or alternately “Seniuk” in honour of nearby early homesteaders Peter and Apolonia Seniuk. (Source) The original church at this site, a small two-room structure, was built in 1903 for $380: $300…

Russo-Greek Orthodox Catholic Church of St. James
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Russo-Greek Orthodox Catholic Church of St. James

The local residents of Beaver Lake originally constructed St. Jacob’s Church (now known as St. James) in 1901-02. The church was renovated and placed on a concrete foundation in 1942 and is one of the oldest churches in Lamont County. (Source) If this church is one of the oldest in the county, you certainly wouldn’t…