Postcard Memories is a series of historic views, stories, and photos of Innisfil and the area, a trip down memory lane on a Saturday morning.
In 1868, a farmer named Joseph Wood sold a plot of land for the construction of a house of worship to serve the hamlet of Croxon’s Corners, now Fennell’s Corners, located a mile to the north. The resulting Zion Primitive Methodist Church was a small frame building with an adjacent driving shed to shelter horses. There was also an adjoining graveyard.
Though located on what would have been considered the outskirts of Croxon’s Corners, the church was not alone. Directly across the road was an Orange Lodge, known as Zion Lodge Number 877, dating to 1869. The warrant for the lodge was issued in 1857, but it took more than a decade for the handful of members to raise enough money to build a meeting house. In the interim, members met in private homes. Once the Lodge was built it was put to good use for many community functions, including wedding celebrations after the union was formalized across the road.
The Zion Methodist Church closed around the turn of the century due to a dwindling congregation. The building stood vacant for years, but its fate was sealed when lightning struck and ignited a fire. The blaze burned so hot and fast that there was nothing to be done to save the church.
Today Zion Cemetery is a graveyard without a church. The headstones, however, remind us of the past village and the people who resided there.
