Founded in 1865, Dennison developed as a railroad town and became the second largest rail center for the Pennsylvania Railroad, whose influence shaped the community's social and economic life. The Railway Chapel, the historic name for the First Presbyterian Church of Dennison, was built because W.W. Card, Pennsylvania Railroad Superintendent, saw a spiritual need in the community. As the first church built in Dennison, it came about through Card's contact with the Presbytery of Steubenville to start the church, his arrangement for donation of land, financing from railway officials, and labor and material from the railroad. Railroad workers made the church furnishings, including walnut pews built by the Dennison Car Shops with reversible backs patterned after passenger-car seating. The church was dedicated in April 1871 and listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 2009. The Presbyterian Manse, the home for the Railway Chapel's minister and family, was built in 1872 at a cost of $5,000, a year after the chapel was completed. This ornate three-story brick house in the French Second Empire style stood on the east side of the chapel and featured sandstone-carved window hoods and sills, an entrance with a transom and sidelights, a cornice with ornate scrolled brackets between frieze panels, and a mansard roof with prominent segmental-arched dormers. Its many delicate interior features reflected its architectural significance, and it, along with the Railway Chapel, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.