Canyon Church will celebrate centennial this month

The Canyon Community Church will recognize its 100th birthday this month. The church was first organized in 1917, and Rev. George McVay Fisher was the first pastor. The congregation didn’t have a church building of its own — they met at the Coram School about once a month, though records show that Sunday school was pretty regular at the time.

Coram was a timber town back then and with U.S. Highway 2 being a poor road at best, people took the train to get to town. (Coram is named after William Coram, a Kalispell timber man.)

Fisher didn’t stay long. The church was then led by Rev. Frank Hillis and his wife in 1918. Frank’s brother, Walter, had started up the Sunday School in Coram before Frank arrived. When Walter left for college, Frank took over the school and the church.

Hillis traveled the hills meeting with people and was the first pastor to hold services in Glacier National Park.

Work on a church building began in 1930 and it was finished in 1932, made from timber from the local woods which was both purchased and donated. It was built with volunteer labor.

Hillis and Otto Fehlberg did most of the work.

Longtime Coram resident Eleanor Franklin has been a member since 1956. She noted the church began as Presbyterian, but became non-denominational and was renamed Canyon Community Church in 1971.

She credited the Ladies Aid, a group of church women who met regularly and held fundraisers every week for keeping the church financially sound over the years. They held bake sales and bazaars to get the church through lean years.

She said she found some old minutes from the group from the 1930s. The ladies paid $1 a month for a church janitor, and they held an ice cream social that raised $6.65. Of that, they gave $5 to the local girl scouts.

The church has been added onto over the years. It has about 75 members, a manse, and an educational building which also serves as a community hall. The educational building was the old Coram School and was moved across the street using three D-9 Cats, Franklin recalled.

Ken Ainsworth has been the pastor for the past eight years.

“It’s a true community church,” he said.

The church is self-sufficient, though it does get assistance with pastors from Village Missions.

“We’ve been really blessed,” Ainsworth said.

Today, the church continues to have Sunday school and a potluck after church the third Sunday of every month. They have a fourth Friday open mic night, a ladies night out once a month, and a host of other activities.

The church will celebrate its centennial with a picnic Aug. 20 at 12:30 p.m. after church services. Meat will be provided, though if you have a favorite dish to share, you’re asked to bring one.