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Minneapolis
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
The First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, which is housed in a handsome modern church built in 1951 at 900 Mount Curve Avenue, was founded in 1881. The membership in the past several years has stabilized at about 900. Among the members are residents of other cities and states. In addition, the Society receives support from a number of contributing nonmembers.
At the time of the Society’s founding, Minneapolis was a scattered, open frontier city of 50,000 people without a foot of paved street but with an almost savage faith in their ability to control their own destiny. The founding of the Society was an expression of that faith. On November 18, 1881, meeting in the old Adventist Hall on Third Street and Nicollet Avenue, the Society was incorporated and its aims set forth: “Where people without regard to theological differences may unite for mutual helpfulness in the intellectual, moral, and religious culture and humane work. And that all persons whatsoever who sympathize with these aims shall be welcome to this Society.”
Henry M. Simmons was minister of the Society from its founding in 1881 until 1905. Under his ministry the Society soon outgrew Adventist Hall and in 1881 began to hold services in the Jewish Synagogue at Fifth Street and Marquette Avenue. Construction of a new church was undertaken in 1885. Located at St. Mary’s Place, now Eight Street and LaSalle Avenue, the handsome church, designed by a noted architect of the time, L.S. Buffington, was dedicated in June 1887. Mr. Simmons, a powerful and provocative minister, established a standard of excellence that has been a hallmark of the Society’s ministers ever since.
The Society continued its growth in size and stature under the ministries of E. Stanton Hodgin, who served from 1905 to 1909, and Wilson Backus, who served from 1910 through 1916. Next to assume the pulpit was John H. Dietrich, a major figure in the development of the Society and of American Unitarianism in the Twin Cities and in the nation.
Under Dr. Dietrich, who championed carefully conceived religious humanism, the Society experienced rapid and exciting growth so great that Sunday services were moved to the Garrick Theater in Downtown Minneapolis and later to another large downtown theater, the Shubert, to accommodate the audiences that regularly exceeded 1,000. Eventually the Dietrich sermons were extensively broadcast on radio and published in leaflets that were mailed to religious liberals throughout the world. Thus, during the 1920s and 1930s the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis became a center of religious liberalism in the upper Midwest.
In 1926, the Society moved from its church in downtown Minneapolis to the Unitarian Center at 1526 Harmon Place. Sunday services were still held in the theaters to accommodate the large audiences while the Center itself became the scene of a variety of innovative programs.
After Dr. Dietrich’s retirement in 1938, the pulpit was filled by another dynamic humanist religious leader, Raymond B. Bragg, who served during and after the difficult years of World War II. Raymond Bragg was succeeded by Carl Storm, who served for an 18-year period that saw the Unitarian church move to its present location. Robert Lehman succeeded Carl Storm, from 1965 to 1978.
The present minister, Khoren Arisian, began his service with the Society in 1979 and has continued and strengthened the religious humanist tradition of John Dietrich and other past leaders of the Society. Mr. Arisian, in addition to his vigorous leadership of the Society, has been instrumental in the formation of the North American Committee for Humanism and the establishment, by the Committee, of the Humanist Institute, which has its headquarters in the Meeting House of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. The institute serves as a national training center for humanist leadership education. Mr. Arisian, a graduate of Tufts University, has also studied at Harvard and at Oxford. He has served in Unitarian Universalist ministries in Iowa City, Iowa and Sarasota, Florida, and as a religious leader with the Ethical Culture movement on Boston and New York.
Through its members the Society has always been a strong force in its community. A number of civic and social organizations, such as the Minnesota Memorial Society, the Humanist Credit Union, and Group Health (a pioneer Health Maintenance Organization) largely had their beginnings among member of the First Unitarian Society.