Presbyterians in Wisconsin
The Presbyterian Church established a foothold along Wisconsin's inland waterways, lake ports, and mining districts of the southwest in the 1830s. In 1837, the Church split into "Old School"--those who defended strict Calvinism--and "New School"--those with a congregational slant--Presbyterians. Wounds were healed in 1870, however, with the national reunion of the Old and New School Presbyterians into the Reunited General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. At the time of the merger, the Old School was numerically superior to the New School in Wisconsin, claiming 3,321 members against only 1,982.
The result of the union was growth and expansion throughout the state in the late 19th century, aided further by the 1958 union of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. with the United Presbyterian Church of North America. Education has been a central concern throughout Presbyterian history in Wisconsin. Carroll College, Wisconsin's first college, Downer College, Beloit College, the Classical Institute of Portage, Poynette Academy and Gale University have at one time been associated with Presbyterianism. Wisconsin's Cultural Resources Study Units, Wisconsin Historical Society
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