The Past
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Mabel Lake
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Mara
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Mara's
first church, the St. Matthew's Church, was put up in 1910, the same year as the hall.
Rev. Leech-Porter got a piece of land to build on next to the Cadden-Gray parcel. By this
point in time Mara had many community buildings such as a store, hall, school and post
office; the need for a community church soon became evident. Up until the first church was
built, church meetings and services were held in homes in the area. When the site to build
on was established, a local resident by the name of Mr. J. Nicholas began to clear a piece
of land for the carrying out of this new plan.
According to Mara Memories, Mr. Guildmaster was finally appointed to began construction of the church which was in time completed by volunteers. In September of 1912 a harvest festival was held for the official opening of the church. Just as a point of interest the first couple married in the church were Ned Robertson and Annie Massey.
Certain aspects of the actual church building held were of specific interest: the basin for holding water for water baptisms was presented to the church by Ernest Groves and several benches were donated in memory of Mara residents who lost their lives in WW I.
In 1977 the church was closed for just over one year and when interest grew again, services were once again held every first and third Sunday. The church was now renamed from St. Matthew's Church to the Mara Community Church and became non-denominational.
St. Anne's Church was constructed in 1931 as a Roman Catholic Church from land donated by Mrs. Annie Dale and a $500 donation from an anonymous citizen. The first married couple was in the fall of 1934 when Miss Annie Bruice married Mr. Len Screen. In 1964 however the church was sold and eventually torn down.
Dawn Gerlib, Niels Konge, Kurt Schubert
ALF School, 1989