Starting in 1854, Winterset had two or more Presbyterian churches for 99 years. Several mergers were made over those years with final unity achieved  in 1953. The founder of the First Presbyterian congregation in Winterset was Rev. John C. Ewing who moved to Winterset in the fall of 1854. The founding members were the Dr. John H. Gaff family, David Lamb, Polly Ann Hawkins, Martha Kerns, Emily Hornback and Mary Dorrance.

Two other factions of the Presbyterian church, the Associate and the Associate Reformed, emerged as organized churches in 1855. First was the Associate Reformed, which came together in August, organized by Rev. R. N. Fee at Harbert's schoolhouse. Benjamin Lorimor and Alex Campbell were elected ruling elders, and the total membership was fifteen. After the organization of this church, the members at Montpelier transferred their membership to this, because of the greater convenience of attendance.

The Associate church was organized a few weeks later by the Rev. Messers. Tate and Vance. The membership was six, and the ruling elders elected were Nathan Newlon and B. F. Lorimor. These two factions merged in 1858 to form the United Presbyterian Church. This congregation was very active in expanding their influence, sending members to form new churches in Patterson, Pitzer, North Branch, and Peru in the late 1860s.

In 1857, while there were three different factions of 

First United Presbyterian Church - Winterset

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Pre 1875 United Presbyterian Church

Photo courtesy of the Madison County Historical Society

the Presbyterian church in Winterset, yet a fourth faction arose, this being the Old School Presbyterian church under Rev. Jacobs who came from Knoxville. The charter members of this churchwere Mrs. Hornback, the Mcall family, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Welch, Mr. and Mrs. Ault, J. D. Jenks, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Thompson, Robert Goshorn, Mr. Westfall, Miss Lizzie McCleary, Mrs. Martha Stewart, Mr. Holmes and J. S. Goshorn. A year later, when the United church was formed, Winterset again had three Presbyterian factions.

In late 1864, Rev. Ewing retired and Rev. A, M. Heizer became the pastor of the First Presbyterian church. He served for 6 years and in 1867, succeeded in unifying his congregation with The Old School faction and Winterset was down to two Presbyterian churches, The First Presbyterian and the United Presbyterian. Shortly after the merger, Rev. Heizer was replaced by Rev. Edward Dickerson, who in turn was replaced by Rev. James H. Potter in 1870. Rev. Potter left before 1880 to take a pastorate at Eustis, Florida, where he died in 1903. During his stay in Winterset, he had several prominent families in his congregation including those of Henry, J. B. Cummings, Thomas C. Gilpin, John S. Goshorn, Miller R. Tidrick, and Herman A. Kinsman.

After holding services in various quarters for almost 25 years, the congregation voted to build a new, brick church in 1875. The contract was let to Eli Cox who hired Thomas Mardis for the brick work and Henry Smith to do the stone work. The church was completed and occupied in September 1876. It is the church they still occupy today although it has gone through several additions and renovations.

Early on, the new church building was used by both the First Presbyterians and the United Presbyterians but under separate pastors.  During the late 1920s, serious discussions were conducted regarding merger of the two congregations and culminated in a vote in 1931, precipitated by the departure of one of the two pastors but the proposal failed and they went on as two congregations using the same facility for worship. It was 27 more years before an agreement to merge was approved in 1958 and the new church became The First United Presbyterian Church.

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