Working-class Churches in Early Twentieth Century Hamilton: Fostering a Distinctive Working-class Identity and Culture

In Hamilton in the early twentieth century, workers and their families could and did attend churches that were predominantly working class. These churches were simple and modest, were managed and financially sustained by their working-class congregations, offered an old-fashioned evangelical message oil Sunday mornings, and provided a rich and diverse associational life. While these churches attracted working-class families, gender and marital status influenced individuals' participation. Church members were more likely to be women than men, and married rather than single. Many families also had irregular contact with the church; parents who were not church members, for example, often chose to baptize their children and send them to Sunday School. Church attendance was only one aspect of the religious life of Hamilton's working-class families.