TIMELINE OF PRESBYTERIANS IN DUBOIS COUNTY/JASPER INDIANA

1810 Cumberland Presbyterian Church formed out of the dissolution of the Cumberland Presbytery of the Kentucky Synod of the Northern Presbyterian Church.

1810 Mrs. Elizabeth Lindsey, a Cumberland Presbyterian, who moved to Knox County from Tennessee writes to Dr. David Lowery of the Cumberland Presbytery to send ministers. There are only 4 counties in the territory known as Indiana. Knox County would give land to new counties created: Gibson, Pike and Dubois Counties over the next decade.

1811 Responding to another letter from Elizabeth Lindsey, the Reverend William Harris and Reverend Alexander Chapman make their way through Knox County holding service almost daily at homes along the way.

1812 Elizabeth Lindsey marries Ashbury Alexander whose farm is in present day Dubois County then known as Knox County.  

1813 Gibson County created which encompassed current day counties Gibson, Pike and Dubois.

1813-1815 The Cumberland Presbyterians send circuit rider ministers to establish churches. Elizabeth Lindsey-Alexander and her new husband Ashbury Alexander have services at their house just south of Alexander's Campground in Present day Dubois County.

1817 Pike County created from Gibson County

1817 Cumberland Presbyterian Church ministers arrive in Pike County and begin setting up services at Alexander's Campground (Ireland) and Fort McDonald (Portersville). By this time the Cumberland Presbyterians have organized 10 churches in Southern Indiana in present day Knox, Gibson, Pike, Daviess, Orange, Sullivan, Dubois and Vanderburgh counties. By 1818 log churches are built. By 1830 log churches are built in Portersville, Ireland and Jasper.

1818 Dubois County created from Pike county.

1826 on April 18 1826 the Presbytery of Indiana was organized at the Union Church, Portersville Indiana (which was the County Seat)

1827 on October 2, 1827 the fourth meeting of the Presbytery took place at the Shiloh Presbyterian Church at the John Walker Homestead, a small log building church. The second Shiloh Church was built in 1849 and is still standing today.

1830 The County Seat was moved to Jasper and the first church established was a Cumberland Presbyterian Church located in a log church on the Enlow family farm/mill. The church was located between Cemetery St. and Brucke Strasse St. near the current Jasper Mill.

1836 A frame church was built on the S.W. corner of 6th and Mill Streets in Jasper, Indiana. This became the home of the First Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Jasper for the next 50 years.

1856 The Hillsboro Cumberland Church was organized. The present church was built in 1874.

1860 the Cumberland Presbyterians built the Lemmons Church. The church is located in Boone Township, Dubois County, Indiana on Portersville Road. Lemmons was placed on the National Register of Historical Places on June 4, 1992.

1873 With the passing of Rev. A.J. Strain, came the passing of regular services at Shiloh. Services continued to be held at Shiloh more or less regularly until September of 1885. The congregation had built a new Presbyterian church in the town of Ireland on the site of the current Ireland Elementary School parking lot.

1876 The Portersville Cumberland Presbyterian Church was built in Dubois County. It replaced the Union Church.

1885 The Ireland Presbyterian Church was built. This church was the outgrowth of the 1817 log church and the 1849 church at Shiloh Cemetery. Presbyterian Church services were held in Ireland until 1940. In 1940 the church closed and those who wished to became members of the Jasper Presbyterian Church went there and joined. The bell from the Ireland Presbyterian Church was also taken to Jasper. The Jasper area Presbyterians have since built a new church. The bell is now in an outside display at their new location on St. Charles Street.

 

1886-1889 The Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Jasper contracted to worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church, then located at the 300 block of 6th Street, North Side.

1898 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Jasper and the Evangelical Reformed congregations erected a church, the Cumberland Presbyterians renamed their church the Trinity Presbyterian Church, on West 8th Street.

1906 the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches in Dubois County merged with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, which eventually renamed itself the Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA). The congregational vote did not occur until 1907 with the annual scheduled congregational meeting.

1940 The renamed First Presbyterian Church of Jasper, moved into their new church on 11th and Jackson Streets, Jasper Indiana. They no longer share a church with the Evangelical Reformed Church, as both churches had grown to sizes that required separate churches. The Evangelical Reformed Church made Jasper a gracious offer for their share of the church. The Ireland Presbyterian Church closes and its members transfer to the newly named First Presbyterian Church of Jasper.

1988 The Portersville Church merges with the Jasper Church in December.

2001 The First Presbyterian Church of Jasper moves to its new location on St. Charles St. This new location encompasses the merger of the Lemmons, Ireland, Jasper and Portersville Presbyterian Churches into one location.

2016 The First Presbyterian Church of Jasper begins a new denominational association with the Presbyterian Church in America. It also celebrates the churches 199th Birthday from the beginnings of the Shiloh and Portersville Churches in 1817.

 

2020 On September 27, First Presbyterian Church voted to leave the PCA and petition Evangel Presbytery for membership. On October 1, Evangel Presbytery accepted First Presbyterian Church into its presbytery. 

 

2023 First Presbyterian Church became independent church.