Presbyterianism in Summerside 1853—2003

The growth in population at Green’s Shore in the 18505 was phenomenal. New settlers were being attracted by the busy commerce at the wharf, the packet service to the mainland, a growing shipbuilding industry, and a post office. Green’s Wharf was constructed in 1839. In 1849 the first regular packet between Green’s Shore and Shediac, the schooner, Oregon (with Richard Walsh as Master), ran weekly between Hurd’s Wharf (Bedeque), Green’s Wharf (Green’s Shore), and Shediac, N. B. This service was a beacon, attracting new settlers who were eager to have regular communication with the outside world for business and travel. James C. Pope built the first shipyard at Green’s Shore in 1852, the same year the post office commenced operation. It was only a matter of time until the demand for a permanent place of Presbyterian worship was heard.

The name, “Green’s Shore,” was gradually being replaced with “Summerside" by the late 18505. At Green’s Shore Loyalist descendant Joseph Green operated an inn which was licensed as a tavern in 1839. He called it “Summerside House” because of its sunny, warm southern exposure, as opposed to St. Eleanor’s, farther inland to the north and west. It is uncertain when the name of Summerside was first used, but when Joseph Green’s mother, Martha (Oat) Green died in 1841 her death notice in an Island newspaper gave her place of death as “Summerside, Bedeque.” The name, Green’s Shore, was still being used in some government records as late as 1855.

By the mid-18505 the Presbyterian congregation had outgrown its quarters at the Western School and a

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