West Union Presbyterian Church

West Union Presbyterian Church is a historic congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the village of West Union on the southern edge of Ohio. Formed at the turn of the nineteenth century, it worships in an early nineteenth-century building constructed by a future governor of Kentucky, and it counted among its earliest members a governor of Ohio. The building has been named a historic site.Organic historyIn the first years after the congregation's 1800 organization, the members worshipped along Eagle Creek outside West Union, but they began working to move into West Union in 1809. From the beginning of its history, the congregation suffered from dissension and apostasy: some of the members, including their pastor John Dunlevy, defected to the Shakers in 1805, and Presbyterian minister William Williamson from nearby far northern Lewis County, Kentucky was left to lead the remaining members. These individuals feuded among themselves, many leaving to join an Associate Reformed Presbyterian congregation at Cherry Fork, which had been organized circa 1803. Nevertheless, the remnant resolved to build a new church building in the village of West Union, and under the leadership of elders Joseph Darlinton and Thomas Kirker, a subscription list was signed in 1809. The final cost of construction to the congregation was $500, of which half was paid to general contractor Thomas Metcalfe, a master mason and the future Governor of Kentucky.