Visitors - History of Our Congregation
History of Unitarian Universalist
The history of our congregation goes back to 1836 when a group of Unitarians from New England moved to Cleveland and banded together to form a church. In 1867 the church incorporated as Unity Church. In the early 1900's they built a church at the Northwest corner of Euclid and East 82nd Street. In 1932 Unity Church merged with All Souls Universalist Church. Shortly afterwards the congregation changed its name to the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland. Over the next twenty years East Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland grew out of First Unitarian Church.
The Society was founded in 1951 when a majority of members from First Unitarian
Church voted to move to Shaker Heights. The charter members of the Society
felt that it was important to maintain a Unitarian presence in the inner
city. They remained at East 82nd and Euclid, kept the church building, and
incorporated as the Unitarian Universalist Society of Cleveland.
Until 1969 the congregation remained an urban presence at East 82nd and Euclid. During those years the Society's members were active in the struggle for civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam war, the women's movement and early environmental movement. The congregation's activities gave it a high profile in the community. The Cleveland Plain Dealer described it as "the first integrated congregation in Cleveland" and Martin Luther King, Jr. was scheduled to preach at Society April 21, 1968. He was assassinated seventeen days before his scheduled appearance.
In the wake of King's assassination and the changing cultural and political context in Cleveland and the country, the Cleveland Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus began to advocate for the black empowerment. They argued that since the congregation was located in the predominately black Hough neighborhood the Society's building and assets should be controlled by and used to benefit black people. In early 1969 the congregation voted to transfer ownership of the building and a portion of the endowment to the Cleveland Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus. The caucus formed the Black Humanist Fellowship of Liberation and that congregation called John Frazier as its minister. As part of the agreement the Society was allowed to continue using the building as long as it liked.
In 1971 the Society voted to relocate and moved to the Coventry neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. In 1997 the congregation officially became a welcoming congregation. As a welcoming congregation the Society has made a commitment to become more inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and/or transgender people (BGLT). In part, because of this commitment, the Society has been active in the struggle for BGLT rights in Ohio and been part of the coalitions that have worked to create Domestic Partnership Registries in the cities of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights. The congregation is proud to celebrate gay and lesbian unions.
Past settled ministers of the congregation include Jesse Cavileer, Emerson Schwenk, Dennis Kuby, Farley Wheelwright, Chris Bailey and Peggy Clason. Lewis McGee, one of the first African American Unitarian ministers, discovered Unitarianism through the congregation. Colin Bossen was called by the congregation to serve as its first full-time minister in over thirty-five years in 2007.