Reverend Thomas Quinton StowPrint Page 
The Stow Memorial Church (now Pilgrim Uniting Church) was erected in 1867 to commemorate Thomas Quinton Stow (1801 - 1862), the first Congregational minister in South Australia.
In 1837, Reverend Stow arrived in Adelaide and began services in a tent on the Torrens where the railway station now stands. Later a substantial building was erected for worship in Freeman Street near Gawler Place .
Stow was responsible for forming many new churches and for recruiting and training several ministers. He was the first chairman of the Congregational Union of South Australia in 1850, and he did much to foster friendly relations between all denominations. He was appointed to the first board of education in 1846 and served on many other public committees, always ready to promote moral, social and intellectual progress.
When he died in 1862 he was mourned by the whole city and Parliament and banks closed for the occasion.
The Stow Memorial Church, erected as a tribute of respect and honour to the memory of the Rev. Thomas Quinton Stow, the founder of Congregationalism in this colony, has at length been completed, so far as it is intended to complete it at present and opened for divine worship. The foundation stone of the building was laid on the 7th February,1865, by Mr. Alexander Hay, in the presence of a large concourse of spectators, and from that time till now the work has been carried on with the greatest rapidity by the contractors having occupied only about two years and two months from its commencement to its completion. On Friday evening, April 12, an inaugural service was held in the church, which was comfortably filled on the occasion.
South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA), 15 April 1867.
Location
| Address: | 12 Flinders Street, Pilgrim Uniting Church, Adelaide, 5000 |
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| State: | SA |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -34.926871 Long: 138.600931 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Structure |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Religion |
| Designer: | Robert George Thomas |
| Monument Manufacturer: | Brown & Thompson (builders) |
| Link: | http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/adbonli… |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Friday 12th April, 1867 |
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This building was erected to the glory of God
And as a memorial to the pioneer Congregational Minister in South Australia, Thomas Quinton Stow
Minister of this Church, 1837 - 56
The building was opened for worship on 12th April, 1867
Pilgrim Church was established on Trinity Sunday 1st June 1969 by the union of Stow Memorial Church (formed on the 19th December, 1837) and Pirte Street Methodist Church (formed on the 11th May 1837)
