Notes on 200 Years and More

Notes on Two Hundred Years (and More)

by Douglas H. Parkhurst

Recent “Notes…” articles have chronicled events and people at First Universalist Church, now Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury or UUCD, during the period 1948-58. We will pick up with 1959 and subsequent years another time. This month, for a change of pace, let’s look at a different topic.

Between 2008 and 2010, this writer submitted ten articles to Comment under the heading “This Time In History.” These pieces related history-oriented topics, much like the present “Notes…” articles. I particularly enjoyed researching the great variety of names of Unitarian Universalist churches, societies, fellowships, congregations, and their buildings past and present. These include the several names by which UUCD has been known over more than two hundred years. An article about such names appeared in the March 2009 Comment. Here is an expanded version of that article.

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Anyone traveling around the United States may see local Unitarian Universalist signs and buildings. Perhaps you have visited one or more of the groups associated with these. Have you noticed UU congregations come in many shapes and sizes? So do their names! Following are examples of the great variety of names from both present and past.

The historic First Parish and First Church designations, including the name of a town and/or the denomination, are common throughout New England. First Parish of Sudbury, Massachusetts; South Parish Unitarian Church, Charlestown, New Hampshire; First Church in Boston, Massachusetts; and First Universalist Parish, Derby Line, Vermont, are examples. Sometimes the word “Congregational” is included, as in Congregational Unitarian Society of Bernardston, Massachusetts, and First Unitarian Congregational Society, Wilton, New Hampshire.

While the name All Souls is not unique to Unitarian Universalism, it identifies many UU congregations across the country. Present-day examples of All Souls, among others, are in Bellville, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; Watertown, New York; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Colorado Springs, Colorado. And, there are All Peoples UU groups in Fort Worth, Texas, and Louisville, Kentucky. Kalamazoo and Ludington, Michigan, each have People’s Churches, and The Peoples Church is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa [see note below].

Some UU groups have adopted colorful names with geographic references. There is Outlaw’s Bridge Universalist Church in Seven Springs, North Carolina; Headwaters UU Fellowship of Bemidji, Minnesota; UU Congregation of the Shoals in Florence, Alabama; and Big Sky UU Fellowship, Helena, Montana. Others are known by the streets where they live. One example is Allen Avenue UU Church, Portland, Maine. In Bethesda, Maryland, there are two such UU Congregations, Cedar Lane and River Road. Arlington Street Church is in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.

UU congregations can be named after people. Follen Church, Lexington, Massachusetts, memorializes 19th century abolitionist Rev. Charles Follen. Money to build Pullman Memorial Universalist Church in Albion, New York, was given in part by 19th century industrialist George Pullman to honor his parents. There are at least two Starr King groups, one in Plymouth, New Hampshire, and another in Hayward, California. They carry the name of the eminent Universalist and Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King [see note below]. Throop UU Church in Pasadena, California, is named for its member and benefactor Amos Throop, founder of California Institue of Technology.

There are UU churches maintaining names of traditional religious or historic significance. St. Paul’s Church of Palmer, Massachusetts, and St. Paul Universalist Church in Little Falls, New York, are two. King’s Chapel, founded in 1686 in Boston, Massachusetts, was originally Anglican and kept its name when it became Unitarian in 1787. There is St. John’s UU Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is the home of Unity Temple UU Congregation.

Other UU congregations have given up their traditional religious or historic names. First Church of the Messiah was predecessor to the present-day First Unitarian Church of St. Louis, Missouri. The Church of the Divine Paternity became Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York. Unitarian Universalists of Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania, used to be the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration. What was once St. John’s Universalist Church is now Universalist Unitarian Church of Joliet, Illinois.

There are some unique names, as well, in our denomination. Freethinker’s Hall is home to Free Congregation of Sauk County, Wisconsin. Organized in 1852 as a Free Society by immigrant Germans, the Congregation became Unitarian in 1955. In Austin, Texas, there is Wildflower Church UU, organized in 2001. The former First Universalist Society, Cincinnati, Ohio, is now Heritage UU Church. Members of All Souls UU Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, meet in West Village Meeting House. And, do you know there is a UU church named for a mythological Norwegian maiden? This is Nora UU Church, Hanska, Minnesota. Founded as a Unitarian church, it was previously known as Nora Free Christian Church. Religiously liberal Norwegian settlers of Lutheran background organized Nora Church in 1881.

Our attention will be on Washington, D.C., this month, with the presidential inauguration coming on January 20. In the nation’s capital we find All Souls Church UU; Universalist National Memorial Church; and Washington Ethical Society. Three UU groups within a few miles of each other, all with very different names (and histories)!

The above is but a sampling of the diversity of Unitarian Universalist congregation and building names in the United States. Now we will look at Danbury and Connecticut.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury has had more than a few appellations during its almost 203 year history. Early on it was known as the Universalist Society or First Universalist Society. By the 1850s, after construction of its first and second buildings, the group was commonly called the Universalist Church. These names were interchangeable for many years. For example, the Danbury Directory for 1871-72 lists simply Universalist Church. A membership list from 1881 uses the name The First Universalist Society of Danbury. The church constitution of 1892 states, “This church organization shall be known as the Universalist Church of Danbury.” There is reference to the Universalist Church Society in the deed of a neighboring property on Main Street. The printed program for the congregation’s 100th anniversary celebration (1922) recognizes the founding of the First Universalist Society “in” Danbury, Connecticut.

The UUCD was incorporated on November 19, 1957, with the name The First Universalist Church of Danbury, Connecticut, Incorporated. In December 1960, “Universalist” was amended to read “Universalist-Unitarian” (with hyphen), reflecting the soon-to-be completed consolidation of the two denominations. Six years later, after the merger of the Danbury UUs and the Unitarian Fellowship of Ridgefield (formed in 1964), the name was changed to The Unitarian-Universalist Society of Northern Fairfield County, Incorporated, (again with hyphen, though the hyphen disappeared in common usage). Then, on September 9, 2003, the legal name of the group became Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury, Incorporated. And so it remains today.

Connecticut has had its share of historic and traditional Universalist church names. There was Society of United Christian Friends in the Towns of Norwich, Preston and Groton [see note below]; Church of the Messiah, New Haven; and Church of the Redeemer, Hartford and later West Hartford. St. Paul’s Universalist Church was in Meriden and Second Universalist Society in Stamford. A Universalist group formed in Southington in the early 19th century was called First Society of United Brethren. The historic Unitarian society in Brooklyn, Connecticut, was known as First Ecclesiastical Society. The First Congregational Unitarian Society was organized in Hartford and its early building was called Church of the Savior. UU groups in the state today include Shoreline UU Society in Madison; Mattatuck UU Society, Woodbury; and All Souls UU Congregation in New London. [See note below.]

[Note – Rev. Dr. Linda Hansen, UUCD’s settled minister from 2003 to 2008, previously served Peoples Church in Cedar Rapids.]

[Note – Rev. Thomas Farrington King, father of Thomas Starr King, served Danbury Universalists as a circuit-riding preacher in the early 1820s.]

[Note – The Norwich group later became First Universalist Society in Norwich. A former building was called Church of the Good Shepherd.]

[Note – The Southington group is extinct. Otherwise, the historic Connecticut churches and societies mentioned above live today with successor names.]