You are here: Home > About us > History

History of our congregation

The history of this congregation dates back at least to 1708 when the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Boston supported Rev. Samuel Hunt in the task of establishing a state-approved church in the heavily Quaker town of Dartmouth. The town of Dartmouth then included present day New Bedford, Acushnet, Fairhaven, Dartmouth and Westport. The theology of the new church was eighteenth century Calvinist Puritanism. Sixteen families organized this church in 1709 and built a meeting house at the head of the Acushnet River.

For forty-three years from 1760 to 1803 the church's fourth minister, Dr. Samuel West, led the church away from Puritanism to a more liberal Christian theology. Dr. West was active in the American fight for independence and supported the approval of the U.S. Constitution. A close friend of John Hancock, Dr. West succeeded in persuading Hancock to make a decisive vote in favor of ratifying the proposed Constitution.

In 1795, during Dr. West's ministry, the congregation moved nearer the center of the developing city and erected a new building at the northwest corner of William and Purchase Streets in New Bedford.

After Dr. West's retirement in 1803 the church went through a period of theological controversy during which no permanent minister was called. In 1810 the ardent Calvinists withdrew from the church and established the North Congregational Church. In 1823, our church committed itself to Unitarianism by calling Orville Dewey as its eighth minister.

At the beginning of Dewey's ministry there was a similar disagreement between liberals and conservatives in the Quaker community in New Bedford, and many liberal Quakers joined this church. As a result of the influx of Quakers, many of the influential merchants, the church took on the undisputed position of the most important church in New Bedford. Religiously speaking, perhaps the most influential of these Quaker converts was Mary Rotch, who had been an elder in the Quaker meeting. When communion was served in the Unitarian church, she held to her Quaker resistance to "outward forms of religion," and quietly left the church.

In 1824 the official name of the church became the First Congregational Society. In 1833-34, while Dewey was ill, Ralph Waldo Emerson served as interim minister for several months. While Emerson was in New Bedford, he talked frequently with Mary Rotch, who proved to be a huge influence on his thinking and writing. Also during Dr. Dewey's ministry, planning was begun for the current church building.

In the late 1820's, another liberal church began to form in New Bedford. Hosea Ballou, the greatest Universalist preacher of his day, came to preach in New Bedford, and urged the formation of a Universalist church. New Bedfordites responded by establishing First Universalist Church. John Murray Spear served as the minister of the new Universalist church from 1835 to 1841, at which time it appears that he met Frederick Douglass. Spear went on to share the lecture stage over a hundred times with Douglass, preaching against slavery.

Back at the Unitarian church, another abolitionist, John Weiss, served as minister from 1850 to 1859. Under Weiss, the church became even more liberal in theology. Weiss was not just an abolitionist, he was a Transcendentalist whose theology was so liberal it can be characterized as "post-Christian." With the influx of Quakers in the 1920's, participation in communion dropped greatly, and Weiss finally convinced the congregation that they could stop offering communion altogether. Weiss paved the way for the post-Christian theology of his successor, William J. Potter. Potter eventually disaffiliated the congregation from the American Unitarian Association (AUA) in favor of a very loose organization known as the Free Religious Association (FRA). When the FRA disintegrated, the congregation then re-affiliated with the AUA.

Paul Revere Frothingham became the Unitarian minister when Potter died. Frothingham revitalized the church, boosted flagging membership, and established Unity Home and Chapel, a Unitarian mission in the North End of New Bedford, a settlement house to assist the influx of immigrants to that part of the city.

By 1930, the membership of First Universalist Church voted to consolidate with First Unitarian, adding their strength to the Unitarian church. The Universalists continued to meet for decades as the "Murray Club," named after the great Universalist theologian, John Murray.

Our church continued to support Unity Home in the North End during the 20th C. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Unity Home served a large community of Eastern European immigrants. Under the leadership of Maja Capek, they became an independent congregation, affiliating separately with the American Unitarian Association. Capek had been ordained by the Unitarian church in Prague, which with 3,000 members was then the largest Unitarian church anywhere in the world. The congregation's name was changed from Unity Chapel to North Unitarian Church.

A number of 20th C. ministers at First Unitarian had distinguished careers. William Geoghegan, minister from 1902 to 1919, fought for cleanliness in the production and the handling of milk in order to prevent tuberculosis. Stanton Hodgin, minister from 1920-1938, began the broadcast of the Sunday Service on the radio in the 1920's. It was one of the oldest continuous radio church services in the United States when it came to an end on 1974. Duncan Howlett, renowned as an excellent preacher, served the church during the difficult years of the Second World War. David Rankin, another renowned preacher, served the congregation during the turbulent time of the Vietnam War and urban crisis.

By the late 1960's, membership at North Unitarian Church had dwindled, and they voted to rejoin First Unitarian Church. When the North Unitarian Church building burned in the early 1970's, the assets of North Unitarian were put into a fund to promote social justice, the Abby Cobb Fund. For decades the Abby Cobb Fund provided grants to good causes, until at last the money came to an end.

Today, we are a small but feisty urban church. We are still committed to social justice, and we are still liberal in our theology. We carry on the great legacies of Mary Rotch, Orville Dewey, John Weiss, Maja Capek, and all the people who have been a part of the First Unitarian, First Universalist, and North Unitarian churches in New Bedford.

More history, of this and related congregations

History of related Unitarian and Universalist congregations in New Bedford:

An 1889 history of this congregation is available online:

Excerpts from historical sermons:

Historic affirmations of faith

Our congregation today

Today we are convinced that we have something very special and unique to offer this community both because of our openness to the future, and because of our history. We are a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association of congregations (UUA). As a member congregation, we ascribe to the principles of the UUA as set forth in the bylaws, which read:

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:

  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
  • Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
  • Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
  • A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
  • The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
  • The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
  • Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

  • Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
  • Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion and the transforming power of love;
  • Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
  • Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
  • Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
  • Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support. (1985, amended 1994)

The same article of the UUA bylaws also declares:

The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member congregations and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, language, citizenship status, economic status, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.

And additionally:

Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or bond of union used by any congregation unless such is used as a creedal test.

Sometimes we sum all this up by saying we hold to freedom, reason, and tolerance, and we affirm hope, courage, and love. Our unique blend of compassion for people, freedom of belief and use of reason, and the ideals of nondiscrimination offers a message of hope for the world today.