Description of Historic Place

The unpretentious MacKenzie Presbyterian Church, built in 1930, is nestled among bushes springing from the banks of the Red River in the East Selkirk area. It faces a quiet country highway lined with swathes of bush and open fields and dotted with farms and rural residences. The municipal designation applies to the one-storey wood-frame church and the grounds upon which it sits and to the adjoining cemetery located behind the church, accessible via a short path through a thicket of trees.

Heritage Value

MacKenzie Presbyterian Church stands as a testament to the community-fostering role rural churches could play in Manitoba in the early twentieth century. Originally an All People's Mission directed by a devoted Scottish immigrant, Mary MacKenzie, this church became a critical hub for the diverse cultures coexisting in the East Selkirk area, providing donated goods to those in need, hosting social events and accommodating the work of the Goodwill Women's Missionary Society of St. Clements. In 1948, after Deaconess MacKenzie's death, the church was renamed MacKenzie Presbyterian in her honour. The building is a simple and honest testament to faith, one of a generation of rural Manitoba churches subject to the constraints of time, money and resources in a difficult era. The church is a humble structure whose value can be found in its straightforward approach to worship, with restrained Gothic Revival elements sensibly incorporated.

Source: Rural Municipality of St. Clements By-law No. 9-2001, November 20, 2001

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the site's heritage character include:
- placement of the church in a wooded lot on the east bank of the Red River, with the main entrance overlooking a country highway
- the cemetery lying to the west of the church, holding Mary MacKenzie's grave

Key elements that define the building's external heritage character include:
- the simple box-like form and a gable roof with a modest bell tower centred on the east end of the peak
- the utilitarian construction and unpretentious material quality, as seen in the wood-frame construction, horizontal clapboard siding, double-hung clear glass windows, etc.
- the use of restrained Gothic Revival elements, as seen in pointed arch windows with basic tracery and coloured glass

Key elements that define the building's internal character and function as a community hub include:
- the simple hall plan with a centre aisle and the fir tongue-and-groove floors throughout