HomeMy WebLinkAbout2095Altona Mennonite Meetinghouse
Commentary by Ralph Greenhill, Ken Macpherson, and Douglas Richardson in Ontario
Towns. (Oberon Press, 1974, plate 37).
In 1853 the Society of Mennonites built this lovely little church in the hamlet of Altona. It is
built in the delicately-coloured local brick of a shade between oatmeal and salmon-pink. This
characteristic Mennonite church is not unlike a Quaker meetinghouse. But while the
Mennonites segregated the congregation four ways—men, women, boys and girls—they did
not insist upon separate entrances for men and women, as did the Quakers. Here, the door
in the centre provides direct access to the church proper, and the other door leads to a
vestibule across the end of the building. The interior of this church is particularly well-
preserved and the churchyard contains many interesting stones.