Sunday, January 21, 2018

Sunday Service: Formerly Known as the Zion Lutheran Church

We were headed home from our big exploring day out 2 weeks ago. Daylight was disappearing but I wanted to check out a village I have never been through before, Ferintosh, AB. It is always a good idea to stop in these places, you never know what you might find!

I saw this little old church on the side of the highway and stopped for a photo. It appears to have been converted to a home, there is no sign or indication of what church it used to be and it looks to be uninhabited now. The windows are boarded up on one side and I couldn't see any tracks at the front door. There is an old RV parked behind it though and possibly a back door. Hard to tell with some of these old places!

I asked a friend who lives in the area who checked her history books. It was the Zion Lutheran Church. Built in 1916 and closed in 1967 due to a dwindling congregation.



Thanks to Deb Trout and Little Beaver Tales.


29 comments:

  1. Hmmm, I see other trailers/RVs in the background. I wonder if the property behind is some sort of storage for that sort of thing.

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    1. Hi William, not sure, it was kinda on the edge of the town...might just be a catch all for a variety of stuff. Or it's someone's big back yard.

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  2. Here we are seeing churches closed today as congregations continue to dwindle. One was recently torn down by the remaining congregants. Sad!

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    1. Hi Marie, it is sad to see. The church my parents were married in is gone, it's now a dentists office etc.

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  3. Reminds me of the one in Ferrintosh.

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    1. It is Ferrintosh. I had seen this a few years ago in the summer. I thought it looked familiar.

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    2. You are correct BW! Ferintosh for the win.

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  4. With all of the heathens in this modern day, I always hate to see an unused church! - lol

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  5. Never knew you stopped in Ferintosh that day, Jenn! Nice!

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    1. Yes, figured I would do a quick buzz through it, now I have to go back though.

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  6. Have you noticed how similar in architecture that church is to the Highland Park church? They're not too far away from each other distance-wise either. They could have been part of the same parish.

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    1. Hey Tim, they are similar. Someone told me this was a German Lutheran, I wonder what Highland Park was?

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    1. Hi Debra, my first thought was Breaking Bad lol

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  8. There was a small little church near Daisy's parent's house that got torn down. I'm guessing from the lack of attendance. The town she was in is growing and populous, there's more bigger churches around and I could see why.

    Unless it had bad damage, I don't see why it had to be torn down. Nothing took its place. It's always bothered me that not really any churches, mosques, synagogues, etc never really have done anything about housing the homeless. These places are empty for the vast majority of 168 hours in a week... just saying

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    1. Hi Adam, I wish they could be reused too, especially in urban areas where they really need affordable housing and places for the homeless.

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  9. Beautiful photo, I love the sky. We have some libraries that were converted from closed Churches of Ireland. They are old and pretty unique.

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  10. I love that church, and you took a great photo Jenn! :)

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    1. Thanks Rain! I wonder how much of the original character is inside?

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  11. Nice little church! Love the eave returns (where the eaves of the roof wrap around to the front of the church) and they're even duplicated on the porch entrance. The carpenters really tried to make this little country church special. A "sweetheart" for sure!

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    1. Thanks Michael! Funny, there was another similar Lutheran Church we saw this day and it was the eave returns that gave this one a unique look.

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  12. That would be pretty cool to live in an old church like that.

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    1. Hi Danielle, I agree! An old church or school would be very cool to live in!

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  13. You have a wonderful blog, I have loved looking at the old schools & churches & buildings you discover!
    Great photography too from amazing Alberta!
    Looking forward to following!
    Christineandhercamera.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Christine, thank you for visiting! Lots of neat stuff to discover on our back roads!

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  14. It's a lovely looking old church Jenn, I do hope it's still being used.. the old truck is a good sign that it is!

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    1. Hi PDP, I hope so too. Windows are boarded up on one side but you never know...

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