The staid old Knox Presbyterian church in Horning's Mills was once one of only a few churches in Ontario with hydro electricity, and now it has become a church without pews and with gaping holes or plywood where once it boasted marvellous stainedglass windows.

Until short weeks ago, it was one of only three continuing Presbyterian churches in Dufferin County, along with Tweedsmuir in Orangeville and Knox in Grand Valley. Now the dozen or so remaining parishioners meet in the nearby community hall as they cannot enter the church building.

During those few weeks, the church elders have been meeting with Melancthon township council in closed sessions for undisclosed reasons, and today is likely to be their last such meeting. Earl Hand, a member of the Knox congregation, said this is the council's decision day on "how to proceed," but he did not explain what he meant by that.

Meantime, Dufferin's building department has confirmed that someone from the church had called this week about a demolition permit.

Also this week, it was confirmed by this newspaper that as many as three stained glass windows had been donated to the Dufferin County museum. One of those had been donated by the Franklin family. In a phone interview, John Franklin confirmed that he is making a donation to cover the costs of displaying it there.

Both Earl and Lois Hand said the church had had two engineering reports on repairing the deteriorating roof and an exterior wall, plus what would be required to bring the building up to Code — including accessibility. The estimated cost of repairs and required improvements? Something in excess of $200,000, an unreachable sum for the small congregation.

Horning's Mills was once a village with three thriving congregations: Anglican, Methodist (later United) and Presbyterian.

Knox Presbyterian, down to about a dozen regular Sunday worshippers, is the last of the three to have closed its doors.

The United Church in the village has either been sold as a future residence or is in the process of being sold, according to sources.