History

The con­gre­ga­tion that evolved into the York­min­ster Citadel Corps com­menced in Jan­u­ary of 1910 when a group of com­rades climbed to the sec­ond floor of a build­ing on Ascot Avenue. In this rented audi­to­rium, known as Little’s Hall, Sal­va­tion­ists began a small out­post which was named “Earlscourt.”

A deliv­ery van in the Earlscourt dis­trict of Toronto

Within the year, a site was pur­chased at 1183 St. Clair Avenue on which to con­struct a per­ma­nent Hall, and this build­ing was offi­cially opened on Decem­ber 23, 1910. From this loca­tion, the sol­diers of Christ pro­claimed the gospel mes­sage through con­stant open-air meet­ings and reg­u­lar weekly services.

Through­out the fol­low­ing years, the faith of the com­rades was rewarded. The Royal George The­atre, which held 600 peo­ple, was sit­u­ated next door to the Hall, and was hired when the crowds could not be sus­tained within the small wood building…The con­gre­ga­tion main­tained its influ­ence in the dis­trict and the size of the Sol­diers’ Roll con­tin­ued to grow.

In 1920, a new site was pur­chased for a larger Hall, to be built at 1615 Duf­ferin Street. From there, the mes­sage of sal­va­tion was heard in the Earlscourt Dis­trict for over half a century.

Despite the great progress of the Corps, the area in which it was located had changed demo­graph­i­cally by the 1980s, and a deci­sion was made to relo­cate the con­gre­ga­tion to Yonge Street and High­way 401, and change the name to York­min­ster Citadel. An oppor­tu­nity for new avenues of sacred ser­vice began when the York­min­ster Citadel was offi­cially opened by Com­mis­sioner Will Pratt on Sep­tem­ber 12, 1987. From this loca­tion, the mes­sage of Christ con­tin­ued to sound forth from atop the great hill on Yonge Street.

The year 2010 marks the 100^th anniver­sary of the York­min­ster Citadel Corps.

Doug Tay­lor