[1] The First Unitarian Society of Ann Arbor was formed in 1865, and began worshiping in what was once the Methodist Church.

[2] In 1878, Dr. Jabez T. Sunderland arrived in Ann Arbor as the pastor of the First Unitarian Church.

Sunderland raised $19,000 toward the cost of the structure, and the congregation hired the Detroit architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier to design the building.

Construction on the building began in 1881,[4] with the stonework done by the Walker Brothers firm of Ann Arbor, and it was completed in 1882.

[3] The Ann Arbor First Unitarian Church is a two-story rectangular Richardsonian Romanesque structure constructed of ashlar decorated with bands of darker stone.