In the early days of Madison County's settlement, there were many churches formed, some even having erected a building, but they simply did not thrive and survive and left almost no trace but a mention in someone's recollection. Typically, these churches would start in the 1850s or 60s, meeting in members homes and using itinerant preachers. When the county started earnestly building schools in the 1870s, the congregations would meet in a school house and, if prosperous enough, build their own church building, usually in the 1870s or 80s. But several factors started eroding many of the congregations to the point of collapse. Among these factors were people dying or moving, congregation infighting, lack of a viable preacher, or poaching by other congregations.  Also, some denominations went through a consolidation process, and two churches would become one which usually eliminated the need for one of the buildings. Then too, by the 1900s, transportation was evolving, making it possible to travel to town to attend a more prosperous and sustainable church. These abandoned churches are listed here with what little information has been found.

Bevington

     Bevington Methodist Church - Bevington was laid out in 1872. As soon as it got sufficient population, a school house and a Methodist Church were built. The church did not have a sustaining congregation and the building was abandoned for religious purposes.¹

Crawford Township

     Associate Presbyterian Church - About 1852 a number of families came to the county who were members of the Associate and Associate Reformed, Presbyterian churches. The first of these was Oliver Crawford, who in 1852, settled in Crawford Township, on the farm still known by his name. J. G. Freeborn, Anderson McLees, Robert Gamble and William Kenedy came to the same neighborhood soon after. These persons soon organized a society for social worship and catechetical instruction on the Sabbath, to supply the place of preaching. About this time Joseph Henderson, John and Robert Baird, and a few others who had located near St. Charles, united with those above named in an effort to secure preaching at least occasionally. The first minister was the Rev. Mr. Tinsday of the Associate church; then came the Rev. John W. McClain of the same denomination. There is no record of them building a church in Crawford Township and they all likely ended up in either the St. Charles United Presbyterian church or the Montpelier United Presbyterian Church.²

Grand River Township

     North Branch Methodist Church - This church is mentioned in passing in an article in the July 20, 1899 issue of the Reporter. No particulars were given and nothing else has been found. But, Methodism was the prevailing religion in the county so there being a Methodist church in Grand River Township is no surprise.

     Seventh Day Advent Sunday School has been organized at the Kivett school house. The Kivitt school house is in Section 6 of Grand River Township. Whether this blossomed into something bigger needs further research. This came from a stringer report in the Winterset Madisonian of August 7, 1896.

Jefferson Township

     Jefferson United Brethren Church -  Like the Catholics in Lee Township and the Quakers in Madison Township, a concentration of one denomination occurred in Jefferson Township, the United Brethren. They came in the 1850s and were so numerous that at one time, three United Brethren churches stood in Jefferson Township. The strongest and longest lasting was Union Chapel, also known as Shambaugh Chapel, in section 1.⁵ Jefferson United Brethren church was located in the southeast part of the Township. It still existed in 1915 but eventually failed. The fate of the building is unknown.³

     North River United Brethren Church -  Like the Catholics in Lee Township and the Quakers in Madison Township, a concentration of one denomination occurred in Jefferson Township, the United Brethren. They came in the 1850s and were so numerous that at one time, three United Brethren churches stood in Jefferson Township. The strongest and longest lasting was Union Chapel, also known as Shambaugh Chapel. North River United Brethren church was located in the Brittain neighborhood which would be the southwest corner of the township. The North River Church closed in 1954. The fate of the building is unknown.³

     Pleasant Grove Methodist Church - No church history has been found. It's exact location in Jefferson Township is unknown. A church building was constructed in 1881. The last mention of activities in the church in the newspapers was in 1907.

     Seventh Day Adventists held meetings for three consecutive weeks in the Stone school house according to the Winterset Madisonian of March 19, 1897. The meetings lasted just two years and were then abandoned.

Lincoln Township

     Union Chapel is a church referred to in a September 1892 Winterset Madisonian report from Ord which was in Lincoln Township. The report says " Union Chapel church was dedicated Sunday, August 28. Three hundred dollars was called for and the amount was soon subscribed. It was estimated six hundred people were present. Rev. G. W. Mitchell, of Holt, Mo. preached the dedicatory sermon". Rev. Mitchell was a pillar of the Christian Union denomination so that is likely what this church was.

Monroe Township

     Church of God - In the era of 1927 to 1932, a "Church of God" near Barney is mentioned in the newspapers in connection with obituaries and the name of the known pastor. No other references have been found

     Kasson Methodist Church - No church history has been found. From the obituary of James H. Berry it was stated that his father, John Boyd Berry gave the land for a church. There was a church building, probably built in the 1870s, it was located in the northeast corner of Section 32. The building and contents were auctioned off December 4, 1929.

Patterson

     Patterson Baptist Church erected a building about 1872. It had a large congregation at the outset but dwindled away within a few years and the building was sold to the lodge of Modern Woodman after the lodge was founded in about 1885.¹

     Patterson United Brethren Church had a church building just west of the Baptist church. It too could not sustain itself. Fate of the building is unknown but there was a transfer of church property to a private individual in 1904.¹

     Patterson United Presbyterian Church is only mentioned once in county newspapers and that was in reference to some one who had joined the church in 1878. It is almost certainly the building and the congregation that was moved there from Montpelier in 1872.

Peru

     Seventh Day Adventists had a congregation in Peru in the 1870s and owned a building which was sold in that time period so it apparently started early, thrived enough to build a building and then dissolved. This information was derived from small notices in various county newspapers.

Scott Township

     Buffalo Mills Primitive Baptist Church: The Primitive Baptist church which had been dormant during the Civil War resumed meetings after the war ended but shortly thereafter, splintered into two congregations, one at the original location in Union Township and the other at Buffalo Mills, both served by the same pastor. It remained that way until the mill closed in 1889. Closing the mill resulted in many of the church members moving away and the congregation was disbanded. There is no record of them having a church building at Buffalo Mills.

     Buffalo Mills United Brethren Church: The only references to this church can be found in a handful of obituaries in which the deceased had been noted to be a member of the United Brethren Church at Buffalo Mills. No other information has been found. In 1894, Providence Chapel, a United Brethren church was opened in Scott Township, likely with many members coming from the Buffalo Mills congregation.

Union Township

     Montpelier United Presbyterian Church started out as an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.  This church was organized on February 19, 1855 by the Rev. James Green, at the house of J. G. Freeborn, with membership of seventeen. Robert Gamble and John W. Baird were elected elders. It was known as the Montpelier congregation and in just a few months, they transferred their membership to the Winterset church which had formed in August of the same year.²  In 1870, they built their own building in Union Township. There are only four mentions of this church in the county newspapers. The last two, in 1872, suggest that the church building was moved to Patterson.

Webster Township

     Fair View Cumberland Presbyterian Church was located somewhere in Webster Township, the exact place is unknown. A church building was erected there in 1878 per a notice of to whom the contract was let which appeared in the Madisonian of May 16, 1878. According to the obituary of Sarah Steele, a charter member of the church, the church was "transformed into the Congregational Church about 1882". Nothing more has been found about this short lived church.

     Wells Church was located in the NW corner of NE 1/4 of Section 32 of Webster Township. An article in The Madisonian of March 15, 1899 mentions that the "First Congregational Church at Wells is celebrating its 15th anniversary on March 15th" so apparently, the church was founded in March of 1884. When Wesley Chapel, just a half mile from Wells Church, burned in 1926, the newspaper account said that they would tear down the Wells Church, which had been abandoned for 20 years and use some of the lumber to build a new Wesley Chapel on the Wells Church property.

Winterset

     Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: The earliest known attempt at organizing a congregation of this church was a series of tent meetings in June of 1906 at St. Charles which apparently did not come to anything. Although no articles about the church's organization in Winterset have been found, notice of services started appearing in the Madisonian in mid 1953. Asa Erastus Smith, a Madison County resident since 1921, was the pastor. The first meetings were held at 710 West Green Street, followed by 423 East Filmore Street in September 1953. In 1954 they obtained a building, likely a converted private home, at 122 West Green Street which they occupied until 1966. Asa Smith gave up the pastorate about that time and Carlton Greenman became pastor. Probably because of declining enrollment, the Green Street property was abandoned and services moved to the American Legion Hall but mention of the church in the newspaper ceased soon thereafter.

     Pentecostal Church is found in the Madison County newspapers in the mid 1930s. It appears to have begun in July, 1933 when the pastor,  Bishop S. E. Waters came from Dallas Center to hold meetings. By early September 1933, they had erected a tabernacle at 423 East Lane Street. Bishop Waters died in 1935 and was replaced by Rev. Harold Johnson. By 1938, they had moved to 523 East High Street and in April 1938, moved again to the "Y" services. There were no further mentions of the Winterset Pentecostal Church after April, 1938.

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