Little White Church in the Rockies: Jasper Park Baptist Church and Bedford Inn Coffeehouse

This church in Jasper, Alberta was originally home to the "Union" church in Jasper - a congregation of Protestant Christians who weren't members of the Church of England in Canada (Anglican) congregation.

Famed author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), laid the cornerstone in 1914, while he was visiting Jasper. The church was officially opened in the fall of 1915, but it took several years to complete.

In 1925, the Union Church in Jasper voted to join the newly formed United Church of Canada - a merger of the Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist churches in Canada.

In 1939, the Jasper United Church was visited by another famed author, John Buchan (The 39 Steps). Of course, at the time he was known as  Governor General of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir, and was accompanied by Lady Tweedsmuir.

In the early 1940s, the place became known as "The Little White Church in the Rockies."

 In 1965, this building was sold and became home to the Jasper Park Baptist Church congregation. 

For many summers (1968 to the mid-1980s) the church basement was home to to the Bedford Inn Coffeehouse. The coffeehouse, styled like a 17th Century English inn, was named after Bedford, England - the home of another famous author, John Bunyan (The Pilgrim's Progress).