With a greater proportional concentration of Presbyterians than anywhere else in Canada,
Church Union in Canada, which took place on June 10, 1925, was a time of conflict and schism for Pictou County. Where many newly formed United Church congregations were able to take over existing Presbyterian or Methodist church buildings, in Pictou County many were forced to build new churches, as the Presbyterians, in particular, remained strong in numbers and retained their buildings.
The United Church in New Glasgow, Trinity United, initially assumed ownership of the Methodist church but soon found it too small. A new Gothic Revival brick church was built in 1929 and the Methodist Church became the Trinity United Church Hall.
By Act of Parliament, the Congregational and Methodist septs amalgamated with Presbyterians willing to amalgamate to form the United Church of Canada. Presbyterian congregations, by the aforementioned Act, had the option by ballot of voting themselves into the Union or staying out.
The concentration of Presbyterians in Pictou County was proportionately greater than any other area of comparable size in Canada. Whatever the intent of the proponents in Pictou County, Church Union was a schismatic blow: brother opposed brother, in some families husband and wife took opposite stands, as did sons; friends fell out, and animosities created, all in the name of the Lord. As an instance of the bitterness of the quarrel — as with all quarrels, there were two sides and Church Union proceedings in Pictou County became a partisan quarrel with emotion sometimes overcoming reason — New Glasgow's newspapers published columns of argument from opposing clergy...
United Church congregations were formed by the minority Presbyterian
groups in Pictou (St. Andrews and First) and New Glasgow (First, St. Andrew's and United which was soon called Westminster), in association with the Methodists. These became respectively Pictou United and
Trinity United. For the minority groups which formed new congregations and purchased or erected church buildings, considerable financial sacrifice was involved.
Trinity Methodist in 1917 demolished its wooden building and replaced it with a brick structure, which opened in November 1918 in the pastorate of Rev. B. J. Porter. This building became Trinity Hall upon formation of Trinity United Church. Formation of the United Church ended the Methodist Church as such [in Pictou County].
From Pictou County's History