The Dawson Street church from 1913 to 1922.In 1869 William J. Stairs established a ropeworks on the former Albro family land and the north end of Dartmouth began to grow. Homes were build for the families of his workers.
Mr Stairs was deeply interested in the welfare of his workers and in 1869 he had a small building erected on the ropeworks property to be used as a school on weekdays and a church on Sundays. There was no resident minister so the services were conducted by visiting ministers, students or laymen.
The factory expanded quickly and the school/church was moved to Dawson street and was called the Mission Church and the congregation was under the leadership of St. James Presbyterian Church. In 1913 the Mission Church became a self governing congregation called Stairs Memorial Church because of the generosity of the Stairs family.
This and more information about the history of Stairs, is available in the book: Through Thick and Thin - The History of Stairs Memorial United Church by Shirley Gilroy.
A biography of William James Stairs is available online at the National Archives of Canada.
Over the years the congregation has occupied three church buildings.
The Dawson Street church from 1913 to 1922.
The Henry Street church from 1922 to 1959.
The Hester Street chruch from 1959 to the present.
The congregration of Stairs Memorial began a long term project in 1982 to depict the life of Jesus in stained glass windows. Each of the windows would be a memorial gift from the families of the congregation or organizations of the church. In later years the history of the congregation was depicted in the Narthex windows. For more details and pictures of the windows go here.