The Dexter Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1862 at the Haines schoolhouse west of Dexter. Part of the Adair Mission, which included territory surrounding Adair, the congregation moved to the Dexter depot in 1868. The first church building was completed in 1873, at a cost of $3,101.24. The present building , which cost $5,510.35, was dedicated in 1909.

Methodist pastors would only serve a local church for three years, then be assigned to another church. At least two of them had daughters who became noted:

Rev. E. A. Moore lived in Dexter from 1913 to 1916. His daughter Eugenie (Moore) Anderson, who lived in Dexter between ages 4-7, became an ambassador to Bulgaria and Denmark, as well as the first woman to serve as an Alternate U.S. Representative to the Security Council of the United Nations.

The daughter of Rev. C. M. Corrie, who served in Dexter from 1926 to 1929, was between ages 7 and 10 when they lived in Dexter, became Iowa’s Best-Known Homemaker–Evelyn Birkby. Evelyn (Corrie) Birkby had a radio program, has written books, and newspaper columns.

Source: 1968 Dexter Centennial history