Prairie Star District

Preserving and Retelling the Story of
Unitarians and Universalists
in the Upper Midwest

The UU Prairie Heritage Project

Unitarians and Universalists traveled with the pioneers who settled this region. Pioneers in liberal religion, they also contributed to the social, political, and cultural history of the Upper Midwest. Streets, parks, and institutions bear their names.

About the PSD History and Archives Committee

Adding or Updating Your Congregation’s History

Archive Assistance and Resources

UU Heritage videos on YouTube, soon available on DVD

Our story has moments of splendor —

• Since 1872, the Unity Unitarian pulpit in St. Paul has been a strong voice for liberal religion in the area and the nation.
• In the 1930s, the Rev. John Dietrich of the First Unitarian Society preached to thousands each Sunday in a Minneapolis theater.
• Social justice issues were important from early on. The first settlement house in Minneapolis was started by the Universalists in 1897.
• In the decades after the Civil War, as male clergymen vied for Eastern parishes, women ministers founded and nurtured congregations in our region. Many are still thriving.
• Humanist congregations of the Western Unitarian Conference fought for admission to the American Unitarian Association, and then saw their beliefs become dominant.

But much of it still waits to be told —

• UUs in our region have been prominent in campaigns for civil rights, peace, gay rights, and the environment. They and their work should be identified.
• Many UUs are looking for heroes and models to help guide them through current struggles and conflicts.
• In many congregations archives are gathering dust or not being kept at all.
• People with rich memories of Unitarianism and Universalism are dying with their stories unrecorded.