A brief history of the Peoria UU Church
The present building, 708 Hamilton Boulevard, designed by Peoria architect B. L. Hulsebus in Classical Revival style, was dedicated May 28, 1911.
The Universalist church in Peoria was organized on May 6, 1843, and has been an integral part of the community and the church home of many of Peoria's most active and community-minded citizens from its earliest days, among them Tobias and Lydia Moss Bradley, who founded and gave the land for Bradley University, the Peoria Park District and other civic entities.
When the congregation grew and needed to build a new church on Main Street in 1866, members subscribed generously and Tobias Bradley and Sidney Pulsifer advanced additional funds to complete the church. It was dedicated Jan. 1, 1868. The United States General Convention of Universalists was held in the church in 1885.
As the church grew it continued to need more space. It sold the Main Street building to the Masons at the turn of the 20th century and bought the present site, 708 Hamilton Boulevard.
A small Gothic church designed by Herbert E. Hewitt was first built on the site, but shortly after Dr. B. G. Carpenter became minister in 1907, the congregation needed to expand and decided to build on the same site a church of classic Grecian design which would afford greater seating capacity.
At
the 1911 dedication of the new building, the Peoria Star
newspaper wrote, "It is not too much to say that (the
church's) influence in this city is in the highest degree
helpful, spiritual and in line with advanced thought."
(click on the image, left and below, to see larger
views.)
In
1919, wings were added to each side of the building,
increasing the seating capacity to nearly 800, at a cost of
$31,000.
From 1911 and through the 1920s, long before television or C-Span were available, the church was known widely for its Sunday Evening Lecture series which became so popular that the Fire Marshall issued a warning that people could not be seated in the aisles.
Leading speakers including Jane Addams of Hull House, the English mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell and famed lawyer Clarence Darrow were among those who came to Peoria and spoke there.
In 1930, Dr. Clinton Lee Scott became the minister and under his leadership a drive began to rid Peoria of illegal gambling. He was the only Universalist minister to sign the Humanist Manifesto. Scott and his wife, Mary, founded a birth control clinic, and he became a nationally known author of works such as "Religion Can Make Sense" (1949).
In 1960, on a national level the Universalists merged with Unitarians, and the name was changed. In 1962, after a $90,000 renovation and expansion, Dr. Dana McLean Greeley, the first president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, commended the church for remodeling its original structure and remaining a downtown church. "It is an occasion for rejoicing that you have remained to serve in the heart of your community," he stated, as quoted in The Sesquicentennial History of the Universalist-Unitarian Church of Peoria (1993).
In 1968, during the Vietnam war era, the church formed the Peoria Area Peace Committee and allowed draft counseling to take place, because potential draftees had practically no where else to go to learn of their rights under the Selective Service laws. The building has long served as a meeting place for activist groups such as local chapters of the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union.
It recently served as a site for an anti-war, pro-peace meeting after a downtown march, shortly before the U.S. invaded Iraq.
Architecturally the building is unique in Peoria and significant for its Classical Revival style. Its dome contains a magnificent stained glass skylight which admits light into the sanctuary. Two of its stained glass windows depict scenes from nature, a mountain view and a forested stream.
The building is sound and has had many improvements made to it. It is part of the "street of churches" on Hamilton Boulevard.
(A version of this history was presented to the Peoria Historic Preservation Commission in August, 2003.)