The old Unity Church in downtown St. Cloud.
Photo courtesy of Stearns County Historical Society
History of the St. Cloud UU Fellowship
Unitarian Universalism represents two thousand years of resistance to religious orthodoxy.
Modern Unitarianism began 400 years ago in Europe, and Universalism 300 years ago. They spread quickly to America, where the two movements merged in 1961.
Unitarian Universalism has included many leading figures in public life, education, science and the arts, and thus has exerted an influence far out of proportion to its numbers.
From the late 1800s until the 1930s a Unitarian church, the Unity Church, was a prominent religious congregation in St. Cloud. This church was located at the intersection of 4th Avenue South and Division Street (today the Wells Fargo Building parking lot). The economic depression of the 1930s apparently was one factor which brought about the disbanding of the church. Then no organized Unitarian group existed in St. Cloud for about 30 years.
The present St. Cloud Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was established in 1961 after a few individuals began meeting in private homes. Later they bought an old country schoolhouse for a meeting place. In 1979, the old building was replaced with the new one now in use.
The current St. Cloud Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Building on Maine Prairie Road
The former Fellowship building in the schoolhouse on Maine Prairie Road.
Drawing: Sandy Barnhouse