5 years ago Knox Presbyterian Church Sixteen celebrated the congregation’s 185th anniversary in the Oakville community. Although the church, at 1150 Dundas St. W., was originally built in 1845 by the Presbyterians of Trafalgar the congregation actually started meeting in people’s homes and a local schoolhouse in the 1820s. Region(county) of Halton is now covering a major part of area then known as Trafalgar Township. Oakville is one out of 4 towns within the county.
The village that time was known as Proudfoot’s Hollow was here. Now it is the Lions Valley Park.
Proudfoot attributed to a first nation chief and the hollow is the ravine created by glacier actions in in ice age which is a part of Sixteen Mile Creek with sharp and deep bluffs either side.
Old Oakville maps show a grist mill, saw mill, blacksmith shop and distillery in this village. All the buildings now have disappeared were very close to river while the church stood majestically on the banks on top of the bluffs.
This frame structure of the Church was 40 feet long, 30 wide and 18 tall. The building was expanded in 1899 and given a brick veneer on the outside and electric lights were installed in 1943.The basement was added in 1994. There were two churches serving the community; one in the West Bank and the other in the East Bank of the Sixteen Mile Creek.This is the only remaining building from the historical village.
