2. Congregation Histories : Minnesota

Mankato

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato

In the fall of 1952, a notice in the Mankato Free Press announced that Munroe Husbands, from Boston, would be at the Saulpaugh Hotel (now razed in favor of the Holiday Inn) to meet with those who were interested in Unitarianism. G.S. Peterson (“Soci-Pete”), Professor of Sociology at Mankato State College and long-time member of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, and the Rev. Arthur Foote, minister of Unity Church, St. Paul, MN, laid the foundation for the first meeting. The kindred spirits that met that evening formed what was to become the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato.

Charter members of the Fellowship included Jane and John Foster, Grace Burnell, Wm. F. and Harriet Hinrichs, Louise Roth, G.S. Arnold, Ethel Ann Devaney, C.A. and Dorothy Arnold. Louise Roth and the Fosters (when they are not in China) are still active in the Fellowship.

Religious education was an important goal for those who had children. Some say that the parents decided to hold adult meetings as something to do while their children were in Sunday School. Even though the Fellowship met in rested spaces during its early years, it maintained an active religious education program.

The Fellowship incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1961 for purposes of acquiring a permanent home at our present site. The building was a substantial eight-room house on approximately two acres of land bordering on Glenwood Creek. Spacious lawns and fine old trees graced the property. In 1979, the group took on a second mortgage in order to remodel the basement church schoolrooms and bring them up to code. Five years later, we finally “got the L out of the Fellowship,” when we added a sizable meeting room to the facility. It was formally dedicated on September 15, 1985. Betty Mills of Bismarck, ND, and the Rev. Gordon McKeeman, president of Starr King School for the Ministry, were guest speakers on this occasion. A concert of classical music was included in the weekend of celebration.

Fellowship means people. Many of ours have been Mankato State University faculty members, so our fortunes have glowed or faded with arrivals and departures associated with that transient population. Despite the turnover, the membership has remained at 30–35 members for several years.

(Author not noted)