Founded in 1866,[1] the current building was completed by builder Joseph Gridley (1820-1902) in 1868 on land donated by philanthropist Marvin Kent and rests on a bedrock of sandstone.

[3] Its 19 founding members were among the major movers and shakers of the then Village of Franklin Mills, and included abolitionists and Civil War veterans.

They were: Dr. Aaron M. Sherman, M.D., who served as a Civil War surgeon (“contract surgeon” for the 46th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and who was stationed at “Lincoln General Hospital” in Washington, D.C.), a prominent civic promoter, served many terms on the local school board, co-founded the Rockton Masonic Lodge that occupies the historic 1883 summer home of Marvin Kent on West Main Street, served as a State Representative in the Ohio State House of Representatives and whose 1858 home first built by Zenas Kent (father of Marvin) for his daughter Frances and her husband George Wells was recently saved, moved and restored by local historic preservation activists, Arvin Olin, Ransom Olin, Nelson Olin, Joseph Stratton, who, in 1882, donated the large bell that is in the church belfry, Phillip Boosinger, Mary Boosinger, Rhoda Boosinger, James D. Haymaker (son of Frederick Haymaker, member of a family who had strong abolitionist leanings and a business partner of abolitionist John Brown, who resided in Kent for a time) and Mary Rosetta Olin Haymaker, J.G.

[8] The church hosts funeral and memorial services,[9] concerts including classical and jazz music,[10][11] public meetings on local issues,[12] speeches advocating democracy,[13] and other community events.

[15] As part of a renovation project, the ceiling of the sanctuary will be removed to expose the vaulted beams from the earlier roof as well as a stained glass window.

[20] In 2010, Ziemer and fellow Unitarian Universalists from Kent traveled to Arizona to protest the state's immigration legislation; she was arrested in Phoenix for allegedly blocking traffic in front of a sheriff's office.