In 1869, The Murray Universalist Society was founded, named in honor of the centenary of John Murray's arrival in North America and the Church of Our Father (First Universalist Church of Washington, D.C.) was founded the following year.

In 1921, the Universalist General Convention approved funding for construction of the church.

The first service at Universalist National Memorial Church on 16th Street, NW was held on Palm Sunday 1930, with Frederick Williams Perkins as its first minister.

[4] UNMC is an example of Romanesque Revival architecture and was designed by Allen & Collens, architects of the Riverside Church in New York City.

[2][5] The four-story building, a contributing property to the Sixteenth Street Historic District, features a stained-glass window and a stone tower that reaches a height of 98 feet (30 m).