Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church
210 Wilbrod Street
Written by Bytown Museum
on
03/Dec/2009
The history of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church dates back to 1874 when a German-speaking Lutheran congregation was established in Sandy Hill. The next year, the congregation, including many recent immigrants from Prussia and Pomerania, erected their first church at the corner of Wilbrod and King Edward. In 1889, the early wooden church was replaced with a stone one.
Ottawa's population in 1871 had reached 21,500; of that, 179 people identified themselves as German. By 1901, their numbers had grown to 1,248, representing over 2 percent of the local population. It's no surprise that this community needed a church of its own.
Ottawa's immigrant population grew steadily but slowly in the 19th century. Apart from those from the British Isles and the French, other immigrant groups at the time (mainly Germans, Italians and Jews) represented less than 4 percent of the city's population. By 2006, Ottawa's immigrant population had grown to 179,000 people, or 22 percent of the population.
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