Description of Historic Place

The Scrip United Church is a Municipal Heritage Property located approximately 23 kilometres southwest of the Town of Rose Valley in the Rural Municipality of Ponass Lake No. 367. Constructed in 1933, the property features a one-storey, wood-frame church with an attached square bell tower.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of Scrip United Church resides in its association with the Norwegian pioneers who settled the area and in its ties to the former community of Scrip. Although Norwegian settlers arrived in the Ponass Lake area around 1910 and shortly thereafter established a Lutheran congregation, the Ponass Lake Lutheran Free Church was not constructed until 1933. After serving its congregation until 1946, the church remained unused until 1956, when it was moved four kilometres westward since settlement in the area had shifted to the community of Scrip. Although converted to a United Church, the building continued to serve many of the same families who attended the church when it was Lutheran. The Scrip United Church served the religious needs of two generations of people in the area and is the last standing building of the Scrip community.

The heritage value of the Scrip United Church also lies in its architecture and high degree of historical integrity. Although of similar size and form to many rural churches built in Saskatchewan during this period, the crenulated tower differentiates this church and makes it a local landmark. The interior of the church has remained largely unchanged as evident by the condition of the altar, pulpit, hardwood floors, cedar domed ceiling, and cedar wainscoting.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Ponass Lake No. 367 Bylaw No. 3, 1990.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Scrip United Church resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those features reflecting the building's function as a place of worship, such as the bell, memorial plaque, painted crosses on the doors, pulpit, and altar with depiction of Jesus;
-those features that reflect the building's representative architecture, including the size and form of the building and the point-arch windows;
-those architectural elements which distinguish this church, such as the crenulated tower and louvres;
-interior features that speak to the high degree of historical integrity, including the cedar wainscoting, cedar domed ceiling, railing, and hardwood floors;
-the building’s location in the former community of Scrip.