The current congregation officially began
November 21, 1825 – John S. Thompson, an Irishman educated in Glasgow, Scotland, gathered a group of like-minded individuals in Utica to establish the First Universalist Society. This was the first of its kind in Utica, though other Universalist churches existed in the region, including those in Whitestown, Clinton, New Hartford, Bridgewater, and Westmoreland. A Unitarian church had also been founded in Barneveld in 1803.The founding members numbered forty-two including five women.  All were entitled to vote, though it was unusual to include women in voting at that time. Prosperous members included Andrew S. Pond, head of an iron foundry, and Esra Barnum who owned a business that supplied boats for the Erie Canal and was appointed a U.S. Marshall.  That same year the Erie Canal completed from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. Utica is a relatively small incorporated village. Utica wouldn’t become a city until 1832. Utica Public Library was established that same year.

1825 to 1828 – Services held at the Utica Court House and Academy (forerunner to Utica Free Academy)

1827-1832 – Rev. Dolphus Skinner became the first settled minister of the church. He also published the Utica Evangelical Magazine, using it as a platform to express his views on slavery.

1828 – First church building constructed at 4 Devereux Street on land purchased from Nicholas Devereux. It measured 40 by 65 feet, about the size of our current sanctuary.

1845 – Church building at 4 Devereux Street is given up due to funding and a mortgage issue. The building later burns down. The State Office Building today occupies the entire city block.

1832-1838 – Rev. Aaron Grosh succeeded Skinner as minister and later acquired Skinner’s Utica Evangelical Magazine, merging it with The Christian Ambassador, which later became The Christian Leader of Boston. An early abolitionist, Grosh defended his property from rioters during the Anti-Slavery Utica Riots in 1835 and assisted another publisher impacted by the violence. After his time in Utica, he contributed to rural communities across the country and was one of the eight founders of The National Grange, serving as its first National Chaplain.

1845 – 1853 – Utica – Universalists gather for services at Mechanics Hall, Hotel at Liberty Street across from Gerber’s Tavern. Women’s rights advocates Susan B Anthony, and Universalist Minister Olympia Brown, the first woman ordained to any denomination, spoke here. As did William Lloyd Garrison and Solomon Northup, author of Twelve Years a Slave.

1853 – A new church on Seneca Street is constructed and will be home for the Utica Universalists for the next 50 years and will be known as The Church of the Reconciliation.

1887 – Seneca Street church building gains national notoriety after a White Mountain Ash tree grows in its north tower. Photographers and visitors to Utica would be attracted to its oddity. The tree unfortunately died after a roof repair about 1900 and was eventually blown from its lofty perch by a storm in 1901.

1850-1900 – The Utica Universalists actively supported the women’s suffrage movement, joining forces with activists such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Universalist Minister Olympia Brown at Mechanics Hall to advocate for women’s voting rights.

1870’s – The number of people wanting to attend Universalist services exceeded the church’s capacity and extra services were held at the Utica Opera House.

1900 – Emma Grosh Jones, a long time church member and daughter of Rev. Aaron Grosh, was involved in women’s rights activism through The New Century Club. When she passed away in 1913, she was the church’s oldest member.

1903 – Fire destroys the front of the Seneca Street church, several stained glass windows and the church organ.

About 1904 – 05 – Andrew Carnegie contributes money to replace the fire-damaged organ.

1906 – The Seneca Street church building and property are sold to make way for a new building housing Citizens Trust Co. and later would become the site of The Marine Midland Bank/HSBC, now the site of the Landmarc building.

1906 – The Comstock home at Genesee and Tracy Streets is purchased and would become the parish house. That same year Utica Universalist Emma Jones laid the cornerstone for a new church to be built in front of Comstock House.

1907 – Church of Reconciliation opens new church at 1304 Genesee St. and it will serve the congregation until 1978.

1920s, 30s & 40s –Ralph M Jones grandson of Emma, previously mentioned, and head of Utica Knitting Co. and later a founder of Utica Duxbak becomes an active leader in the church until his death in 1946.

1926 – Utica Universalists continued fostering community when Rev. Thomas Saunders proposed welcoming Unitarians to join the Utica congregation. This federation, now known as The Church of Reconciliation (Universalist Unitarian), was the first of its kind, predating the national Unitarian Universalist merger of 1961.

1946 – Church of Reconciliation rents space in the church basement and first floor of the parish house to a very young Utica College of Syracuse University which had established its home on Oneida Square.

1951 – The Church of Reconciliation (Universalist Unitarian) sponsored public screenings of Human Growth, a controversial sex education film. This took place a decade before Mohawk Valley Planned Parenthood was established.

1951– Members of the Utica Church of the Reconciliation (Universalist Unitarian) were instrumental in the founding of Unirondack, a Universalist Unitarian camp in the Adirondacks.  A camp and land on Beaver Lake, 18 miles east of Lowville, New York were purchased.  A recreation building designed by Rev. Howard Gilman was added.  The camp is still in operation and features camps for different age groups as well as family camps and weekends for small groups.  A winterized building has been added to extend the use in spring and fall.

1959 – Utica Council of Churches severs membership of Church of Reconciliation because it could not acknowledge “Christ as divine Lord and Savior” and thereby did not meet its membership requirements.

1960 – Greta M. Worstell (Crosby) is ordained as the church’s first woman minister.

1961 – Rev. Herbert Hudson delivered a service discussing Planned Parenthood, noting the absence of a local chapter and highlighting the 50th anniversary of Margaret Sanger’s initial efforts in Brooklyn.

1962 – The following year, Planned Parenthood of the Mohawk Valley was founded, with church members Verna Carncross, Gladys Becker, and Peg Hassett playing key roles. Hassett was also author of Free and Untrammelled the first complete history of the church.

1968 – Author Alex Haley, known for his biography of Malcolm X, spoke at the Church of Reconciliation. At the time, he was a Writer in Residence at Hamilton College, where he began writing Roots.

1968 – Rev. Daniel Berrigan, a prominent anti-war activist, spoke at the Church of Reconciliation when others refused to host him.

1978 – The Tracy Street Church of Reconciliation buildings are sold and Rev. Timothy Hume Behrendt, an environmental advocate, leads the congregation in constructing an eco-friendly church building at 10 Higby Road and is renamed:

 The Unitarian Universalist Church of Utica.

1995 – UU Utica officially became an LGBTQIA+ Welcoming Congregation, a commitment it upholds today.

1999-2000 – The congregation adopted the UUA’s sex education program Our Whole Lives (OWL) for youth in grades 7-9.

2005- 2007 – Naomi King, daughter of famed author Stephen King, serves as our church minister.

2025 – The church commemorates the 200th anniversary of its founding.

Compiled by Jerry Reed, UU Utica church historian and communications lead. Source: Historical church documents.

*Additional sources: Still Free and Untrammeled by Eleanor (Peg) Hassett & Sally Carman former UUUtica church historian.