Early Churches of Union Township

Early Churches of Union Township

Denomination / Church name / Org date & location / Founder / Buildings / Significant events / Records available?
Society of Friends (Quakers) / Farmer's Institute / org. 1827
CR 375 W / Hawkins and Hollingworth families; first minister Patience Buddle (Mather) / two meeting houses, one to the north andthe other to the south of Union twp; Old institute bldg in the South (Sec 28) now in use (DeHart); built 1851, school on second floor (“Farmers”); began as silent meeting, soon added music (Mather) / Farmer’s Institute Cemetery / Farmer’s Institute
Methodist / Wea Plains Methodist / Sec 4 (1878) / western part of twp; Holland Reformed church in 1909 (DeHart)
Methodist / Mintonye Methodist / southeast part of Twp; early church still open in 1909 (DeHart) / Closed?
Methodist / Shadeland Methodist AKA Union ME / in Sec 11 ?? (1878) / bldg erected in 1871 at entrance of great Wea Plains (DeHart) / Closed?
Unidentified, probably Lutheran / Hickory Grove Church / Abt 1843; near Taylor Station, in Sec 24 (1878; Waltmann) / John Dagey or Gregory Surface (Waltmann) / 1st bldg 1846 (Waltmann) / Hickory Grove cemetery / Closed
Methodist Episcopal / Stidham Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church / org. Nov 1913 Rev. G. W. Switzer; Jasper H. Stidham, a long time resident of Union Twp d 24 Apr 1912. Bequest of $10,000 to a church near Taylor Station / dedicatd bdg 1915; began as Presbyterian meeting at Taylor Station; changed denominations because will reversed denominations (Great Is Thy Faithfulness); See Stidham Memorial Presbyterian Church aka Elston Presbyterian, in Fairfield twp / stained glass windows and dome designed by Lafayette artisan Miss Edna Browning Ruby; When the Methodist Episcopal Church merged with the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1960, the name Jasper Stidham Methodist Episcopal Church was changed to Stidham United Methodist Church.; burned 15 Jan 1999?(Great Is Thy Faithfulness) / Stidham United Methodist Church
5300 S. 175 W.
Lafayette, IN
(765) 474-2806;

1878 Atlas of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Knightstown, Ind.: Kingman Bros, 1878.

1941 Directory of Churches of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Tippecanoe County Public Library. Lafayette, Indiana.

Biographical Record and Portrait Album of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. [BR] Chicago: Lewis, 1888.

DeHart, Richard P. Past and Present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana. Indianapolis: Bowen, 1909. 2 vols.

“Farmers Institute.” Heritage of Faith. Lafayette Journal and Courier November 1976. Tippecanoe County Public Library vertical file.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness: 175 Years of Presbyterian Ministry in Tippecanoe County. Carolyn Moses, ed. 2003.

Mather, Kathy. “Quaker Church Recalls Simpler Days.” Lafayette Journal and Courier 5 Sept 1996.

Waltmann, Henry G. “The Struggle to Establish Lutheranism in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, 1826-1950.” Indiana Magazine of History 75.1 (Mar. 1979): 28-52.