First Presbyterian celebrates 175 years

MARION - In February 1842, nine members of the Presbyterian church in Linn Grove - near Springville - sat together in the county courthouse and held what would be the first service of First Presbyterian Church.

Iowa wasn't yet a state, but the territory had been divided into counties a few years earlier and Marion at the time was named county seat. By 1842, businesses started filling the streets of the small community, including a flour mill, saw mill, bank and hotel. Most residents lived and worked on farms.

Travel was by horse and buggy and for those nine people, Linn Grove was a bit of a distance. They wanted to worship closer to home, so they started their own small congregation.

Although the Presbytery assigned permanent pastors to churches, this congregation wouldn't get their first pastor, the Rev. Alexander Marshall, until 1856 - the same year they built their first church.

'That was his one and only call,” said the Rev. Howard Chapman, who has been at First Presbyterian's pulpit for 22 years. 'He had just graduated from Princeton when he was called to Marion, and he died in his office in 1896, 40 years later.”

The existing church, at 800 12th St., in Marion, was built in 1884. Several additions and renovations have taken place since that time.

On Father's Day, Chapman will lead outdoor services near the one remaining wall of that first building - a wall that now is part of the Sheets, Forrest and Draper Insurance Agency, 610 10th St., to celebrate the church's 175th anniversary.

At a time when churches are seeing declining membership and families come and go from communities, First Presbyterian stands on tradition. The initial group of nine congregants has descendants who remain members of First Presbyterian, and in 175 years, Chapman is just the church's 12th pastor.

'In the first few years I was here, I baptized a baby boy, and he was a seventh direct descendant of one of those original nine,” Chapman said.

The boy has since moved on, he said, but other descendants remain. Families who weren't related to the founders also have had several generations stay with the church, something Chapman said isn't too common in churches anymore.

'I think we're a church where we don't have a lot of ‘conflict,'” he said. 'We don't have factions. We have this sense that we're all in this together.”

The majority of the church's Session, or governing board, is proof of that theory. Most of the members were baptized in the church and have not only stayed, Chapman said, but now serve as church leaders.

'Our mission is, ‘Internally nurturing, externally serving,'” Chapman said. 'That really defines this congregation. That's who we are.”