The year 1822 marks the inauguration of Anglican divine service in Lachine. This was begun through the efforts of the Reverend Brooke Bridges Stevens. Stevens, a military chaplain stationed at the Fort on the St. Helen's Island journeyed to Lachine to minister to the needs of the men stationed at the King's post in Lachine. A stone marker from that period is still to be found outside the church today.

From 1822 to 1831, The Reverend Mr. Stevens and the Anglican inhabitants of Lachine worked to create a permanent house of worship that would serve the needs of the growing community of fur traders, military, farmers, and immigrants building the Lachine Canal. Little did the first parishioners know that the inauspicious beginnings of St. Stephen's Lachine would have an important role to play in the development and history of the Anglican Church in Montreal, and its spread through the western part of Canada.

St. Stephen's was the first to be established in Montreal, after the Cathedral. It is the oldest Anglican church on the island. Most of the parishes of the West Island of Montreal can trace their heritage to St. Stephen's: St. Paul's Lachine (1897); St. Mary's, Kirkland (1912); St. John the Baptist, Pointe Claire (1914); and St. George's, Ste. Anne de Bellevue (1916); and also St. Phillip's in Montreal West (1891). Even some of the older churches in Ontario and Manitoba have some connection with Lachine. Let us not forget that Lachine was the point of depature for the early fur traders, and most of the immigration to the west. Bishop George Jehosophat Mountain embarked on the first episcopal visitation to the Red River Mission (Winnipeg), Rupert's Land on April 16, 1844. His thirty eight journey is a notable part of the history of the Anglican Church in Canada.

Long before women could be ordained, St. Stephen's raised up a woman at the turn of the century, who became a deaconess. Elizabeth Wilgress served in the North West Territories for fifteen years in that capacity. In 1981, St. Stephen's was the first church in the diocese to accept a woman as their rector. The Reverend Lettie James led the way for women's ordination, being herself the first woman to be ordained in the Diocese of Montreal.

It should be noted that the then Archbishop of Rupert's Land, the Right Reverend Michael Peers, was the celebrant at a French language Eucahrist celebrated in St. Stephen's Church on November 10, 1984 - which Inaugurated the use of the Livre de la-Prière commune in Canada.

A further account of the history of St. Stephen's is available via RootsWeb.com:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~qcmtl-w/StStephensLachine.html