Third Unitarian Church
This significant event included the "extension of fellowship" from Charles Lowe of Boston, on behalf of the American Unitarian Association.
The congregation quickly grew to over 100 families, and plans were started for a building dedicated specifically to TUC.
The land was purchased for $13,000 and, according to the Chicago Tribune, was “bought on long time and low interest.” This meant the chief initial financial concern was getting the church built.
[4] Services and church-related activities were already being held in the above-ground basement of the building before the upper floors were even completed.
[5] Staples resigned in November 1872 to accept a call to lead a Unitarian church in Providence, Rhode Island.
Other Chicago Unitarian ministers—Robert Collyer, Brooke Herford, and Trowbridge Brigham Forbush—held a service at the church.
In conclusion, he urged upon his hearers the necessity for again taking hold of the project to revive the church and place it in the position which it ought to occupy in this city."
"[9] One unnamed Unitarian who wrote a response to this plea in a letter to the editor said, "Potatoes are made to grow by putting them into the ground, and then, after tilling.
"[10] After several difficult years, a new pastor, Edward Illsley Galvin, took over the reorganization of Third Unitarian Church in early 1880.
[13] While Blake saved the congregation, he wasn't growing it at a rate many church members found adequate.
[13] A ceremony was held in November 1897 to lay the cornerstone of the to-be-built Third Unitarian Church at 3215 W. Monroe Street, near Kedzie.
At the time of its inception, the architecture planned for the church, designed by Paul Schweikher, was unorthodox and pioneering for its day.
The murals were inspired by a sermon by Edwin T. Buehrer on the "Saints of Liberalism" and include portraits of Jane Addams, Susan B. Anthony, Buddha, Albert Camus, William E. Channing, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gandhi, Goethe, Thomas Jefferson, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, Socrates, Roger Williams, and Woodrow Wilson, among others.
Excerpt from sermon: Oh, my friends, how easy it is to give ourselves up to one idea, or principle, or teacher, and run on the narrow track of his thought.
God asks none of these things of us; but to be our selves, to listen with our own ears for His voice, and search with our own eyes for His truths, and reach out in trustful love, and earnest faith, and untiring toil for His goodness.
1877-1880: Robert Collyer, Brooke Herford, and Trowbridge Brigham Forbush held services during this time.
In 1971, the 129-page book The Art of Being by Edwin T. Buehrer (1894-1969) was published as an all-church project by the Third Unitarian Church.
The excerpts illustrate the basic tenets of his faith, his appreciation of his fellow human beings, and his concern for their welfare.
Dana McLean Greeley, Past President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of America, said of E. T.: “His rationalism, his mysticism, and his pragmatism were mixed in him in perfect balance.” 1969-1974: Donald H. Wheat.
Among the activities during his ministry, the congregation began a food pantry, a scholarship fund for local high schools, etc.
Taken together, the essays offer guidance on how to live a moral, fulfilled, meaningful, and often happy life in an indifferent universe.
The strangest incident during his ministry was when Norman Porter, a prison escapee living under the alias "J. J. Jameson" was arrested in 2005.
Over the past 25 years she has served as a hospital chaplain, religious educator, assistant minister, and college lecturer.
