Wellesley Township Heritage & Historical Society
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Early Churches of Wellesley Township

Wellesley Township was settled later than the rest of Waterloo County because it had been set aside as Clergy Reserves. When this proved to be unviable and unpopular, the land was surveyed in 1842-1843 and opened up for settlement. In 1841 the population was recorded as 254 - 122 adults and 132 children. By 1851, there were 3,396 people living in the township. The census of that year records the religious affiliation of almost all of them:

Roman Catholic               881                                                  Methodists        521
Anglican                           597                                                  Presbyterians   504
Lutheran & Tunker           583                                                  Total               3086

By 1900 nearly thirty churches had been established in Wellesley Township. Thanks to the work of Rosemary Willard Ambrose, Ryan Taylor, the Waterloo-Wellington Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and others, a complete record of these early churches has been compiled.

​Much of the information in the sections below has been taken from Rosemary  Ambrose's book
, Waterloo County Churches - A Research  Guide to Churches Established Before 1900 and reproduced with the  kind permission of the Waterloo-Wellington Branch of the Ontario Genealogical  Society.

The denominations are listed in order of the number of churches associated with it. Click on the church name to see more information about the churches.

​Click here to see a virtual exhibit about the "Places of Worship in Wellelsey Township." 

Denomination
Church
Lutheran
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Bamberg
            
St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Heidelberg
            
St. John's Lutheran Church - Linwood
            
St. Peter's Lutheran Church - Linwood
            
First St. Paul's Lutheran Church - Wellesley
            
St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Wellesley
Presbyterian/​United
Boyd United Church - Crosshill
​
St. Andrew's United Church - Hawkesville
        
St. Andrew's United Church - Linwood
        
​Zion Presbyterian Church
Mennonite
Cedar Grove Amish Mennonite Church 
​(Wellesley Amish Mennonite Congregation)
​
​Kingwood Reformed Mennonite Congregation​
      
Maple View Mennonite Church
(Wellesley Amish Mennonite Congregation)
      
Old Order Amish Mennonite Congregation​
Primitive Methodist
Hawkesville Methodist Church
      
Linwood Methodist Church
        
Primitive Methodist Church
​Wesleyan Methodist
​Union United Church - Wellesley
        
Rush's Wesleyan Methodist Church - Crosshill
        
Methodist Church - Linwood​
Roman Catholic
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church - Linwood
       
St. Clement's Roman Catholic Church - St. Clements
Evangelical Association
Evangelical Church - Heidelberg
       
Wallenstein Evangelical Church
Anglican
St. Mary's Anglican Church - Crosshill
       
Wellesley Anglican Church - Wellesley
Baptist
Wellesley Baptist Church
United Brethren in Christ
Hawkesville United Brethren in Christ Church​
Swedenborgian
Swedenborgian Church - Wellesley