This is a history of St. Joseph's Church in Binbrook and also of Assumption Parish which followed it at a later date. Details have been passed down from people like Irene and Peter McAllister who were more or less in charge of the parish when we had no priest here, at least in St. Joseph's Church. Some write-ups were found in local papers and some are observations of John Nugent who moved here in 1954. Many facts appear to be repeated, however, it would be interesting to note the number of papers and publications in which the history of our church has appeared.

     In the area of eastern Glanford, Binbrook and also in Saltfleet on the mountain, which is now Stoney Creek, there weren't too many Catholics. Most settlers were Methodist which accounts for the large number of United Churches in the area, Binbrook United, Tapleytown United, Trinity Church Road United and also some further east on Mud Street as well as at Elfrida. There were also some Anglicans. The Anglicans built Christ Church at Woodburn and St. Paul's on Mud Street a little further east of Tapleytown. There were a couple of Presbyterian Churches in the area and also a Baptist Church in Binbrook. The only Catholic Church was St. Joseph's which was built about 1830, east of the village of Binbrook on Binbrook Road. This church was on a piece of property donated by the Duffy family from the corner of their farm. Opposite it was John Knox Presbyterian Church.

     The following story was told to John Nugent by the McAllisters, whose family came here after the Irish famine:

Peter McAllister was born on the farm at the corner of the Lincoln Line and the Binbrook Road and was privy to an oral history. He said that the two churches, the Catholic and the Presbyterian, were built by the same people, their families and friends. Knox Presbyterian Church was built first on the south side of Binbrook Road. It was a white frame building and then they built the Catholic Church on the north side. Whenever there were weddings or funerals in either Church the opposing one on the opposite side of the road would be opened and the stove heated for the overflow of guests. Eventually the two white frame churches disappeared and all that's left today are the cemeteries. The Knox Presbyterian Church was raised and carted off to the east end of the village of Binbrook where it was put on a new foundation and bricked. It is presently at the same location.

     In Irene McAllister's report to John Nugent, she says:

Hugh Duffy, on whose farm it was located, gave the ground for the Church and cemetery. His brother, John, was the first buried in the cemetery in 1843, which was a year before the Church building was erected. Bishop Farrell said the first mass and John McGann was the first and only collector as long as he lived, approximately 50 years. Miss Hattie Bayes was the first organist. The altar was donated by Mr. Fred Stoneman, in memory of his late wife Margaret McAllister Stoneman, when the church was redecorated in 1922. The first wedding to be held in the church was Mary Dougherty and Gus Precors. The first confirmation was in 1843.

     St. Joseph's Church has witnessed many changes during its 125 years. In 1856 the Diocese of Hamilton was created from part of the Archdiocese of Toronto. As a mission church it was attached to four separate parishes, to St. Mary's in 1856, St. Patrick's in 1877, Sacred Heart in 1922, all in Hamilton.

     In another history we are told that the priests serving St. Joseph's during the first part of the last century were Father Kirby from Caledonia, Father Dermody, Father McBride (1935), Father Swain, and Father K. Sheridan (then a curate at Sacred Heart, Hamilton).

     St. Joseph's Church suffered rather badly in a wind storm in March, 1964. The roof blew off into the cemetery and it was decided at the time to demolish it. This was done in order to centralize the Catholic community at Elfrida. The Church was demolished and the wood, mostly large squared pine beams, was bought by the Vanderzanden family to build a new barn. This Church was rather a small one and probably held only 80 people comfortably. It had only seven rows of pews and a beautiful little altar. The outside was white frame with quite a large wooden cross on the top. It had a metal roof and along each side of the church were three large Gothic windows. It had an interior brick chimney that went down into the building to a wood stove. This wood stove sat on the right side of the altar rail with long pipes, up into the chimney. The church itself had no foundation. It sat on rocks and at the entrance close to the road it was level with the ground and at the rear it was about two feet above the ground, since the property at that point slips away to the north. There was no plumbing and there was no electricity in the building. The inside was covered with pressed tin sheets that were originally painted white. There was wood wainscotting up the window ledges which were about three feet high. The windows were painted brown and figured as was the style at the time to make them look as if they were grained. The wide boards on the floor were painted grey. The entrance was through a small vestibule where wood was piled for the stove in the wintertime. The door had a little window over the top of it and the door itself was only made of boards nailed together. There were no windows on the front of the building at all and at the top was a circular vent that went into the attic. One cement step allowed entrance into this little vestibule and then directly through another door into the Church proper. The altar rail was beautifully carved and went completely across the Church about two-thirds of the way to the front. Two little side vestries, that were built with vertical boards up to about nine or ten feet, gave some privacy inside. The left one went into a confessional and the one on the right side of the Church was an opening that went into the tiny vestry proper. There were curtains at each of these entrances. The altar was quite beautiful. It was gothic styled, white with gold trim. In the center was a brightly painted statue of St. Joseph. The back of the altar itself was all white with crockets or spirals and finials rising up with a big cross at the center. It rose against the back wall at least half way up to the ceiling. The statue on the left side of the altar area was of the Virgin Mary, crowned, with the Child and on the right there was a sculpture, a small statue of an angel which is presently at the top of the steps in the rectory. These statues and also the altar which were eventually taken out when the church was demolished, were placed under the stage in the Assumption School. They may still be there. The statue of the Virgin Mary was placed in the front hallway of Assumption School.

     The cemetery itself has a great many very old burials and some of the older names were Duffy, Murphy, McAllister and Nugent. The oldest one was dated 1826. Many of these old stones have disappeared over the years. Some have been broken by those who have been sent out to cut the grass. Some of these broken stones were thrown under the spruce trees on the east side and a number of them were under the church. The records for the cemetery as well as the records and archives for the church were kept by Peter McAllister who died in 1994. All these records, I understand, were given to Bob O'Brien at Holy Sepulchre in the 1970's.