The Maple Grove Church was located 7 miles west of Winterset in the northwest corner of Section 2 in Webster Township. The location was on the main road west out of Winterset and the church was considered a landmark of sorts in the early days. No written history of the Maple Grove Church has been found so the information presented herein is principally from newspaper records.

The church was Evangelical in its denomination and newspaper accounts of services and meetings first appeared in 1894 although it is likely that the church is considerably older than that, possibly 15 to 20 years. It was a thriving church into the early 1900s but, according to one account, regular services were terminated around 1906. From an article appearing in the 1966 Atlas¹ the church was torn down in 1926 by a coming together of the Maple Grove congregation and the Methodist congregation whose church, a half mile west, had recently burned. Another acre was added to the property and a new church was built there for the Methodists, using some of the lumber from the old church.

Maple Grove Evangelical Church

Photo from 1915 Madison County History

Apparently, neither the Methodists nor the Evangelical congregations thrived for in 1930 the Evangelical Conference, located in Des Moines, put the building up for sale.

Because there is no written history for this church, the ministers and parishioners are unknown. If you are looking to verify that a particular relative belonged to this church, you might try searching the Madison County newspapers between 1894 and 1926.

__________________