As early as 1848, a small number of Presbyterians living in Mount Airy made attempts to organize a church in this small foothills village. The Reverent W. N. Mebane spent eight months here as a spiritual leader; but on December 9, 1848 he said that it was inexpedient to organize a church at that time.
Presbyterians continued to meet, however, in school buildings and were led from December 1849 to June by the Reverend Monroe T. Allen. A study for Orange Presbytery in 1851 again found the time was not for a church. Worship services continued in school buildings and with visiting ministers. After an attempt to organize in early 1858 did not succeed, on June 6 of that year First Presbyterian became the second church to be organized in Mount Airy.
Charter members of the new church were: Susan and Robert S. Gilmer and daughters Martha J. and Lizzie A. Gilmer; Mildred and Allen Denny; and Mary Dicks. The group met in schools and the Methodist church until enough funds were donated to start a church building in the winder of 1872. It was completed in the spring of 1873 on a lot given by R.S. Gilmer, where the church now stands. Though funds had been raised earlier, construction was delayed by the Civil War and Reconstruction.
The Gilmer family and John M. Brown were largely responsible for erecting the church, at the time a plain frame building. To early members the church was a wonderful sight with its flowered carpets, pine ceiling, ruffled curtains, and horsehair pulpit furniture. But the pews were straight, uncomfortable and unattractive.
The church bell, originally hung in Mrs. Gilmer’s stable near the church in 1876, was hung in the corner of the church in 1878. In 1887 a bell tower was added to the front. Mr. Gilmer was the church’s only elder for the first fourteen years after organization. Because the church was small, several ministers who came eventually left for larger churches after short stays. In 1902, Mount Airy Presbyterian helped organize a mission Sunday School in Flat Rock that grew into the Flat Rock Presbyterian Church.
The granite church that stands today was started in 1907 and completed in 1914 during the ministry of Dr. T. C. Gales. When construction started, the minister was the Reverend J.A. Gilmer, a nephew of the church’s founder. The women of the church held suppers to raise money for the foundation and the roof.
The firsts communion service was given by Lizzie A. Gilmer, daughter of the founder. Part of the service, the baptismal font, continues to be in the current sanctuary and is still used today. The present pews were donated by Mrs. R.J. Reynolds, and the communion table by Mrs. W.E. Merritt. The Celtic Cross at the front of the sanctuary was donated by members in 1968 in honor of long-time elder C.B. Naylor.
In 1951, the church dedicated a new educational addition that also includes the current office space and choir room. In 1990 a new fellowship hall and Sunday school addition was added to account for a growth in membership. The Koinonia Room (in the original New Testament Greek meaning “fellowship”) next to the sanctuary was renovated in 1997-98, almost doubling the church’s worship space. New stained-glass windows in the Koinonia Room, the hallway off the sanctuary, and former pastor’s study behind the sanctuary increase the beauty of the church.