Our History

Our History
​Unitarianism first came to Pittsburgh in the person of Benjamin Bakewell, an English immigrant who journeyed to Pittsburgh from his home in New York in 1808. With the help of Rev. John Campbell, a Unitarian minister recruited from England, Bakewell and other Unitarians in Pittsburgh built the First Unitarian Church on the corner of Smithfield and Virgin Alley (later Oliver Avenue) in 1820. The society was maintained with great difficulty because of the transience of ministers after Campbell’s death and the little building was lost to Bakewell’s heirs after his death in 1844. It experienced a revival in 1850 under the leadership of Mordecai De Lange, who served the church as a minister at large until 1860; he was followed by the Rev. Walter Wilson, the first Unitarian Minister ordained in Pittsburgh, who stayed through the duration of the Civil War.
Brief Historical Sketch of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh
by Kathleen Parker, UU Historian, Sept 2015

The congregation had better chances of succeeding after the advent of industrial growth in Pittsburgh, which brought a wider variety of people to the region. The church was incorporated in 1890 under Rev. Charles Townsend. Rev. Charles Elliott St. John arrrived in 1891 and was successful in soliciting funds to build a new church on the corner of Craig Street and Fifth Avenue, in the heart of the fast developing section of Oakland. St. John was eager to have the church serve the needs of the city.

The Rev. L. Walter Mason succeeded St. John in 1900. Mason’s ministry was marked by steady growth and increasing stability. In 1902, the congregation sold the lot on Craig Street to St. Paul’s Cathedral and the building to a Lutheran congregation in Sharon, PA. They built a larger church on Morewood Avenue at Ellsworth, completed in 1904.

Rev. Mason became reknowned for challenging the criticisms of Rev. Billy Sunday toward Unitarians in 1914. During World War I, many young men in the church served in the armed forces, and the Woman’s Alliance worked as a Red Cross Auxiliary . When Rev. Mason died suddenly on January 1, 1929, the church and the religious community of Pittsburgh mourned, as he had endeared himself to so many people.

The church struggled through the Depression era under the leadership of Rev. Frank Edwin Smith, who was fellowshipped as Unitarian and Universalist. Smith’s departure in 1943 led to the ministry of Rev. Irving Murray who presided over a period of much growth and social action in support of Fair Employment and Fair Housing practices.

The period from 1961 to 1980 was a time of deep turmoil due to the social issues of the time. Of the four ministers who served during this time — Rev.’s Edward Cahill, David Johnson, John Szala, and Jim Hobart — three were involuntarily made to leave by one faction or another in the congregation. Rev. Paul Beattie arrived in 1982, and under Beattie’s leadership, the church began to gain back some of what it had lost in the 1970s. His death from a stroke following heart surgery in 1989 was a serious blow to the church and the larger denomination. Rev. Clarke Wells came in as Interim minister in 1989-90, and was remembered for his Centennial Sermons commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the incorporation of the church.

During the ministry of Rev. David Herndon  (1990 to 2018), the church became a Welcoming Congregation for LGBTQ persons and built up a life-span Religious Education program that includes significant Adult RE courses. The Garden Lobby was constructed in 1999, connecting the educational wing and worship space. The church maintains an active music program for all ages, and is engaged in social action concerns in the community, state, and world. With a mission to “Connect, Inspire, and Serve,” the church is currently re-imagining its ministry in the 21st century.

Our Heritage

Documents from the Founding and Development of the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh

This digital collection begins with special letters that were written by the earliest Unitarians who settled west of the Allegheny Mountains in the years from 1825 to 1850. The letters are identified by the author of the letter, not the recipient. The Rev. Charles Elliott St. John arrived in Pittsburgh in October 1891. Soon, he and the church secretary, Miss Mary Lyman, sent letters to former members of the church requesting they write back about its very early years.These documents were compiled by Kathleen R. Parker, Ph.D. with support from the Unitarian Universalist Funding Program and the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh.The following archival institutions have given permission for the documents at this site to be digitally reproduced. Any use of these documents must reference the institutions where the originals are held, as indicated in each case:

  • Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Cambridge, MA
  • Senator John Heinz Regional History Center, Pittsburgh, PA

Our Documents, Our History

1825   Harm Jan Huidekoper, letter to the American Unitarian Association
Permission: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Cambridge, MA

1826 – 1843 Benjamin Bakewell, letters to the American Unitarian Association
Permission: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Cambridge, MA
  • Pittsburgh, February 18, 1826, to Ezra Gannett, president of the AUA, (reports on the new church building; laments the death of Rev. Campbell; orders100 tracts from the AUA)
  • Pittsburgh, December 26, 1826, to David Reed of the AUA (recommends Pittsburgh as “a place of deposit for the disposal of [Unitarian] tracts…it is the threshold to an almost unlimited extent of the Country…”)
  • Pittsburgh, May 25, 1836, to Charles Briggs, president of AUA (apologizes that scholarly ministers from the East may not be comfortable in Pittsburgh: “the people in the West you know are much attracted to extemporaneous preaching, and overlook a little want of connection in a discourse if delivered with that greater degree of energy which that mode seems to dictate.”)
  • Pittsburgh, July 23, 1836, to Charles Briggs, president of the AUA (expresses regret that Mr. Miles’ departure came so soon after he arrived – he stayed only three Sundays; Henry Miles had been subsidized by the AUA, via the Society for Propagating the Gospel to Indians and Others in North America.)
  • Pittsburgh, January 7, 1839, to Charles Briggs, president of the AUA (suggests his cousin in Norwich become minister to the Pittsburgh congregation – asks for a subsidy to bring him to Pittsburgh and asks if he can also complete his studies at Harvard)
  • Pittsburgh, January 7, 1843, to Charles Briggs, president of the AUA (writes “with feelings of mortification” to inform the AUA that his cousin “has resigned his office of Pastor to the Congregation, which is now scattered like sheep that have no Shepherd” …Further explains that his kinsman’s mode of preaching is “not suited to the Western Country, and little calculated nto attract hearers who pay more regard to sound than sense.”)
1891 – 1905 Martha Everett St. John, letters to her mother
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#551, St. John Family Papers, Series II, Martha St. John Papers, Box 2, F 1, 2, & 3
Contains excerpts of letters pertaining to church life – written by Martha Everett St. John in Pittsburgh, to her mother, Mrs. George D. Everett of Northampton, MA, 1891 to 1900.
1891 – 1893 Rev. Charles Elliott St. John, letters from prior member
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series II, Box 1, F 14
The Rev. Charles Elliott St. John arrived in Pittsburgh in October 1891. Soon, he and the church secretary, Miss Mary Lyman, sent letters to former members of the church requesting they write back about its very early years. Here are the letters written in reply:
  • Letters to Rev. St. John
    • George O. Morgan (lay parishioner), Pittsburgh, PA – Summary of letters.
    • George Plumer Smith, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, c.1893
    • Rev. Henry A. Miles, Hingham, MA, Jan. 9, 1983
    • Ellen S. Bullfinch (daughter of Rev. Stephen Bullfinch), Cambridge, MA, Jan. 22, c. 1893 (to Miss Lyman)
    • E.R. Hoar, Concord, MA, Dec. 24, 1892
    • A. F. Marthens, Pittsburgh, PA, Dec., 1891
    • A.F. Marthens, Pittsburgh, PA, Dec. 14, 1891(correction)
    • A. ????, Salem, MA, Jan. 19, 1891
    • Mrs. L. [Louise] DeLange, Denver, CO, Jan. 3, 1892
    • Rev. Walter Wilson, Denver, CO, Dec. 10, 1891
1892 – 1899 Rev. Charles Elliott St. John, Annual Reports
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series II, Box 1, F 14
1900 – 1929   Rev. Dr. L. Walter Mason, Sermons
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 21, 22, & 23
1929   Memorial to Rev. Dr. Mason – prepared by Board of Trustees
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XV: Pittsburgh Unitarian, Box 11, F 12
1927 – 1943 Rev. Frank Edwin Smith, Sermons
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XV: Pittsburgh Unitarian, Box 11, F 16
  • Observing the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Joseph Priestley
    • March 19, 1933: “Joseph Priestley, the Religious Leader I” (Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Unitarian)
    • March 26, 1933: “Joseph Priestley, the Religious Leader II” (Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Unitarian)
    • April 2, 9, & 30, 1933: “Joseph Priestley, the Religious Leader III” (Reprinted in the Pittsburgh Unitarian)
1932   Church School Annual (later known as O’Eniausios –four volumes)
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XVII: Religious Education, Box 16, F 1-4
1944 – 1961   Rev. Irving Murray
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 24-28
1953 – 1955   Albert Schweitzer
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XXII: Topical, Box 21, F 28A
  • Letters from Albert Schweitzer, Hôpital, Lambarene, French Equatorial Africa
    • Mrs. Erica Anderson, letter to Mr. Murray, Sep. 23, 1953
    • Miss Ali Silver, letter to “Dear Children”, May 18, 1954
    • Albert Schweitzer, letter to Irving Murray, May 18, 1954 (refers to Mrs.Anderson’s letter of Sep., 1953) – translated to English by a Dutch nurse
    • Albert Schweitzer, letter to Irving Murray, May 18, 1954 (the French version of the translated letter)
1961 – 1969   Rev. Ed Cahill, Sermons
Note: KDKA radio sermons are briefer versions of pulpit sermon
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 11-15
1969   Rev. Ed Cahill, Resignation
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series VIII: Congregational Mtgs, Box 8, F 4
1969 – 1970 Bail Bond Reform
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XXII: Topical, Box 21, F 22
1970 – 1973 Rev. David A. Johnson, Sermons
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 19
1973 – 1975 Rev. John R.B. Szala, Sermons
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons/Writings, Box 18, F 33
1979 – 1981 The Scholar and the Ethical Dimension Series
Permission: Margery Gulbransen; Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 40A-43
1982 – 1989 Rev. Paul H. Beattie, Sermons
Permission: Lucinda Beattie and the Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 1-8
1983   Margery Gulbransen on Olympia Brown
Permission: Margery Gulbransen; Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XXII: Topical, Box 21, F 19C
1985   Edward Schoyer on Pittsburgh Unitarianism
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XXII: Topical, Box 21, F 27A
1990   Rev. Clarke Wells, Sermons
Permission: Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA
MSS#550, First Unitarian Church, Series XIX: Sermons, Box 18, F 35