Pilgrim Uniting Church

The congregation was originally at the Gawler Place Wesleyan Chapel. The first minister at the Pirie Street site was Daniel Draper.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Hambly |first= William Frank (Frank) |year= 1966 |id2= draper-daniel-james-1991/text2425 |title= Draper, Daniel James (1810–1866) |access-date= 2016-01-09 }} The first service was held on 19 October 1852.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207070013 |title=Opening Of The New Wesleyan Chapel, Pirie-Street. |newspaper=Adelaide Times |location=SA |date=20 October 1851 |access-date=10 January 2016 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

William Bowen Chinner was organist and choirmaster at Pirie Street from 1869 to around 1899. His nephew Norman Chinner filled the same positions from 1939.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215146307 |title=Farewell Social to Mr. Norman Chinner, LRSM |newspaper=Australian Christian Commonwealth |volume=52 |issue=2636 |location=South Australia |date=28 April 1939 |access-date=24 May 2018 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The first Congregational chapel in South Australia was a temporary structure on North Terrace. George Strickland Kingston was the architect for a building in Freeman Street (now Gawler Place), with the congregation then moving to the Flinders Street site.[http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=630 Freeman Street Congregational Chapel, Adelaide Memories, State Library of South Australia]

Stow Memorial Church, at 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide, was named in memory of the Reverend Thomas Quinton Stow, who had officiated at the first service in a tent on Adelaide's Park Lands in October 1837. The foundation stone was laid on 7 February 1865{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31846360 |title=The Stow Memorial Church |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |volume=VII |issue=2038 |date=8 February 1865 |access-date=18 February 2017 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} and the inaugural worship service was held on 12 April 1867.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39193132 |title=Stow Memorial Church. |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=15 April 1867 |access-date=8 January 2016 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} The first minister was Cadwallader William Evan. The organist, who served for 45 years, was James Shakespeare.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55649642 |title=A Veteran Organist |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=LXXI |issue=18,473 |location=South Australia |date=27 January 1906 |access-date=25 August 2020 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Pirie Street Methodist and Stow Memorial congregations united on 1 June 1969 to form the Union Church in the City. In November 1975 the church changed its name to become Pilgrim Church.[http://nla.gov.au/anbd.aut-an35042110 Libraries Australia Authorities on Union Church in the City] The congregation joined the Uniting Church at its inauguration in 1977.

The foundation stone for the Pirie Street Wesleyan Chapel was laid on 15 July 1850.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38447848 |title=New Wesleyan Chapel, Pirie-Street. |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=16 July 1850 |access-date=8 January 2016 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} The church was designed by Henry Stuckey. Completion of the building, after Henry Stuckey's death in 1851, was under the supervision of Edmund Wright.

After the merger of the two congregations the building was bought by the Adelaide City Council and demolished in 1976.[http://www.adelaideheritage.net.au/all-site-profiles/pirie-street-methodist-church/ Pirie Street Methodist Church at Adelaide City Heritage, National Trust of Australia] accessed 8 January 2016 Wright was also the architect of the Methodist Meeting Hall, located between the Pirie Street and Flinders Street churches. The hall was built in 1862 and is the only remaining part of the Pirie Street property and is now part of the Adelaide Town Hall complex.

The foundation stone of Stow Memorial Church, at 12 Flinders Street, Adelaide, was laid on 7 February 1865. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style[http://www.adelaideheritage.net.au/all-site-profiles/stow-memorial-church/ Stow Memorial Church at Adelaide City Heritage, National Trust of Australia] accessed 8 January 2016 by Robert George Thomas, who was among the first colonists, arriving in South Australia in 1836 aged 16 years.[http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=62 Christine Sullivan, (2008), Architects of South Australia: Robert George Thomas, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au] accessed 8 January 2016

Stow Hall, built 1872{{cite web|url=https://adelaideheritage.net.au/all-site-profiles/purpose-and-use/meeting-hall/ |title=Adelaide City Heritage: Stow Hall |publisher=National Trust of South Australia |access-date=2 October 2022}} alongside at 16 Flinders Street, has been a popular venue for amateur theatre productions.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30774318 |title=Stow Hall |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=6 September 1937 |access-date=2 October 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The organ in the Flinders Street building was initially installed in 1855 in the Pirie Street building[http://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/PilgrimUC.html Pilgrim Uniting (formerly Stow Congregational) Church, Organ Historical Trust of Australia] with that from Flinders Street being sold to St John's Lutheran Church in Malvern.[http://www.ohta.org.au/gaz/sagaz.htm Organs in Malvern, South Australia, Organ Historical Trust of Australia] Improvements over the years have made it the largest organ in the state of South Australia.[https://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/PilgrimUC.html Pilgrim Uniting (Congregational) Church, Organ Historical Trust of Australia]

• Henry Adams
• John and Mary Colton{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44917395 |title=Odd Aspects Of City Church's Centenary. |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=8 July 1950 |access-date=9 January 2016 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Jones |first=Helen |year=2005 |id2=colton-mary-12852/text23205 |title= Colton, Mary (1822–1898) |access-date=2016-01-11 }}
• John Langdon Bonython
• Daniel Draper{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Hambly |first= William Frank (Frank) |year= 1966 |id2= draper-daniel-james-1991/text2425 |title= Draper, Daniel James (1810–1866) |access-date= 2016-01-09 }}
• Benjamin Gould
• Frank Hambly{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Hunt |first= Arnold D. |year= 1996 |id2= hambly-william-frank-10402/text18433 |title= Hambly, William Frank (1908–1972) |access-date= 2016-01-09 }}
• John Hill
• Henry Howard (minister 1902–1921)
• James Wedlock

• Mostyn Evan
• William Roby Fletcher, minister, appointed 1876
• Matthew Goode
• William Muirden{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Condon |first= Brian |year= 1986 |id2= muirden-william-7675/text13429 |title= Muirden, William (1872–1940) |access-date= 2016-11-25 }}
• William Parkin
• Arthur William Piper{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Piper |first= R. W. |year= 1988 |id2= piper-arthur-william-8507/text14051 |title= Piper, Arthur William (1865–1936) |access-date= 2016-11-25 }}
• James Zimri Sellar{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Warburton |first= Elizabeth |year= 1988 |id2= sellar-james-zimri-8383/text14717 |title= Sellar, James Zimri (1830–1906) |access-date= 2016-11-25 }}
• Thomas Hyland Smeaton
• Alfred Depledge Sykes, minister 1904–1906 and 1907–1913{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Hilliard |first= David |year= 1990 |id2= sykes-alfred-depledge-8730/text15285 |title= Sykes, Alfred Depledge (1871–1940) |access-date= 2016-11-25 }}
• Charles Todd{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Symes |first= G. W. |year= 1976 |id2= todd-sir-charles-4727/text7843 |title= Todd, Sir Charles (1826–1910) |access-date= 2016-11-25 }}
• George Wright (1917–1975), a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, was the son of the Reverend George H. Wright, a minister at the Stow Memorial Church

• Judith Blake[https://pilgrim.org.au/obituaries/judith.php Pilgrim Church website]
• Thea Gaia{{Cite web |last=Peacock |first=Glenys |date=2016-07-02 |title=thea Gaia née Dorothy Ivy Wacker: Feminist Foremother and a Great "Ponderer" |url=https://feminismandreligion.com/2016/07/02/thea-gaia-nee-dorothy-ivy-wacker/ |access-date=2022-03-08 |website=Feminism & Religion |language=en}}
• Basil Hetzel
• Penny Wong

In August 2022, the City of Adelaide renamed the laneway adjacent to the church, formerly Pilgrim Lane, to Paul Kelly Lane, after Paul Kelly, a well-known musician who grew up in Norwood. This was the fourth such renaming by the council, to honour musicians associated with the city.{{cite web | title=Adelaide City Council renames laneway in honour of musician Paul Kelly |first=Richard| last=Davies | website=ABC News| publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=4 August 2022 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-04/adelaide-lane-named-after-musician-paul-kelly/101299168 | access-date=5 August 2022}}

{{Gallery

|title=Church buildings relating to the Pilgrim Uniting Church congregation

|state=expanded

|File:The first Congregational Chapel in South Australia (building on right) SLSA B-467.jpeg

|The first Congregational chapel in South Australia (building on right) SLSA B-467

|alt1=Gouache sketch on coloured board of the Reverend T. Q. Stow's temporary Congregational Chapel (seen at night) on North Terrace, Adelaide, built in 1837.

|File:Gawler Place Wesleyan Chapel Engraving from a work by C. W. Calvert 1842 SLSA B-4500.jpeg

|Gawler Place Wesleyan Chapel Engraving from a work by C. W. Calvert 1842 SLSA B-4500

|alt2=Lithographic print of Gawler Place Wesleyan Chapel, engraved, printed and published by H. C. Jervis from a depiction by C. W. Calvert

|File:Adelaide views Wesleyan Church, Pirie Street B 62412-8.jpeg

|View of the Wesleyan church in Pirie Street, Adelaide, demolished in 1976 SLSA B 62412-8

|alt3=1892 photograph of the Wesleyan church in Pirie Street, Adelaide, demolished in 1976

|File:Stow Memorial Church (now Pilgrim Church), Flinders Street, Adelaide SLSA B-1941.jpeg

|Stow Memorial Church (now Pilgrim Church), Flinders Street, Adelaide, about 1870 SLSA B 1941

|alt4=Stow Memorial Church (now Pilgrim Church), Flinders Street, Adelaide, about 1870, SLSA B 1941

}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.pilgrim.org.au/ Official website]

{{UCA Churches|state=autocollapse}}

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Category:Uniting churches in South Australia

Category:Churches in Adelaide

Category:Former Methodist churches in South Australia

Category:Former Congregational church buildings in Australia

Category:South Australian Heritage Register

Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Adelaide

Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in Australia

Category:1865 establishments in Australia

Category:Churches completed in 1867

Category:Stone churches in Australia