some promises of financial assistance from the various churches involved. The total collection for the six opening services amounted to $270, and this is noted as excellent giving, considering that most in attendance would be dropping only a penny or two in the collection plate. The only report in The Examiner on Monday morning after the opening service said,

...The costly edifice recently erected by the Baptists in this City was opened yesterday under the most auspicious circumstances. The Church was overcrowded at all services - All denominations being represented. The addresses were very interesting and eloquent, and the collections large.”

In reading various newspaper articles regarding the opening of the new church, one week before Christmas, we were astounded by the almost complete lack of the local merchants’ mention of Christmas promotion. In two pages of advertising there was only one reference, for a local dry goods store, that said, ”A small shipment of variously selected items has arrived just in time for Christmas” - three days before Christmas! Comparing this to the present day, when Christmas promotion is underway as soon as Halloween is over, one realizes the commercialism that has invaded our society since that time. Also very notable in the church clerk’s records for December, 1879, is the fact that in all of the sermon topics and music for the opening week of services, again a week before Christmas, there is not even one reference to the celebration of Christ’s birth.

In March of 1880, when the insurance premium was being finalized on the new edifice, Deacon / Treasurer James DesBrisay discovered the church was still carrying a $1000 insurance policy on the old Great George Street chapel, and the premium had been paid. He recovered the unused premium portion and had it applied to the new building coverage. James DesBrisay would have capably handled this situation, having recently sold his dry goods business on Queen Street to become the Island branch manager of the Canada Agricultural Insurance Co., as well as being a director of the Union Bank. The old Baptist chapel on Great George Street was sold within the year, and shortly thereafter was converted into a livery stable. In the 1878-79 panoramic drawing of Charlottetown, by artist ”Muggs", the old church can be seen next to the Bank of Prince Edward Island on Great George Street. The new church, then under construction, is visible in the new location. The old church building is still indicated on Charlottetown maps in the 18805 but fell into disrepair and was eventually torn down. It was certainly not the end one might have hOped for a structure that had housed so much faith, reverence and God insPired activity.

After the new church opened, trustees issued a note that said, ”...A heartfelt thanks of this church goes out to the unknown friend for the valuable gift of a very superior pump organ.”. It was obviously the person who had placed the order with Miller Brothers, as noted briefly in the Patriot a year earlier. It was a majOr contribution, because in 1880 a top quality pump organ retailed for about $130. The reference to the organ is interesting because in the 45 year history of the Charlottetown Baptist Church, and the reams of clerk’s notes and minutes written, this is the first mention of a musical instrument being used in the Baptist Church. In April, Alfred w. Stems and Nathan Davies became the sixth and seventh members t° be appointed to the respectful and responsible office of deacon.

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