On May 7th, 1900 The Presbytery (Nova Scotia) asked the Board of Missions for a grant of $300 for the work on Bell Island, and the congregation there promised $50 per month toward his stipend. The new church was being built that summer in Kavanagh's Lane, just a few hundred feet north of where the new Methodist Church (forerunner of the United Church) was being built. (That Methodist church was located in the present-day United Church Cemetery, straight in from the gate off Davidson Avenue.) St. Columba would seat approximately 180 people and the estimated cost of construction was between $1,000 and $1,200. St. Columba, named after the founder of the Church of Scotland, opened on August 16th, 1900. An observer, in 1906, described it as "neat and comfortable." Sadly, we have not found any photos of it. The 1919 Directory for Bell Island lists the Presbyterian Church but shows it as being "vacant" i.e. no minister. Likewise, the Almanacs ​for 1919-1926 list Wabana as "vacant." In 1925, the United Church of Canada was founded after a merger of four Protestant denominations, two of which had churches on Bell Island. They were the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church. Presbyterian members of the Bell Island United Church in what looks like a 1933 "List of United Church Families." Next to most of the names on the list, the new minister has made notes to help him locate the parishioners' homes. In those days, most streets did not have names, let alone street signs and there were no street numbers on the houses. Thus, parishioner No. 3 was "William Lindsay, Presbyterian, Back of Arena." Parishioner No. 69 was "J.C. Stewart, Presbyterian, Lance Cove Road." (J.C. Stewart was the Chair of the Board of Stewards in 1932-33.) Parishioner No. 131 was "Reginald Taylor, this is a Presbyterian family, but attends our church occasionally."