Historic church in Stavely, Alta., put up for sale

The owner of a piece of rural history in the heart of Alberta's farming and ranching country is putting it up for sale.

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Ian Ferguson is hoping to find someone who can finish what he started and finally make a home out of his 108-year-old wooden church.

Ferguson owns the 2000 square foot whitewashed church in the town of Stavely, which sits between Calgary and Lethbridge on Highway 2 and is home to around 500 people.

"I had alwayswanted a church as a residence," he said.

"We put a bid in to the diocese of Calgary in 1998 when the church became available, and just like that, I owned a church."

St. Vincent de Paul includes confessional booths, a choir loft and a 20 foot vaulted ceiling.

The property the church sits on was originally donated by the Canadian Pacific Railway to the diocese of Fort Macleod, but by the 1980s the congregation had dwindled and the church ended up falling into disrepair.

"The church was designed by an architect out east in Ontario, who underestimated southern Alberta's strong winds. The result of that was that on Dec. 28, 1941 most of the original 60 foot steeple blew off. That was eventually repaired, along with putting the original cross back on in the late 1940s," said Ferguson.

"I'd prefer a new owner to preserve as much of that history as much as possible," he said.

"I had lots of intentions and plans for building but unfortunately over the years other things have gotten in the way and I haven't been able to fulfil them. It's time for somebody else to take the project on."

The current asking price for St. Vincent de Paul'sis $134,900.

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