First Universalist Church

North Olmsted, Ohio

5050 Porter Rd., North Olmsted, Ohio

Now living in Ohio, I frequently drive by the Olmsted First Universalist Church with a historic market in the front yard. One day, I took time to read the marker and discovered that this is oldest extant Christian Universalist Church in Ohio still in continuous use. And one of the oldest churches in Greater Cleveland.

Christian Universalism arrived in Ohio in the early 1800s with her New England settlers and itinerant ministers, some who settled in the Western Reserve of Connecticut, the northeastern portion of the newly formed state. In 1795 Aaron Olmsted, a wealthy Connecticut sea captain, for the sum of $30,000 purchased a several hundred-thousand-acre plot of land, which he divided among family. He unfortunately died the following year putting the land into legal limbo. It wasn’t until 1805 that the land became available for settlement. The first arriving in 1815 were Elijah Stearns, David, and David’s younger brother, Alva from Vermont. In 1823 Asher Miller Coe of Connecticut arrived in nearby Dover township with his family. Coe from the start was interested in establishing a Christian Universalist Society and enlisted David Stearns to help. They, together with Charles Olmsted, Elias Frost (as church clerk) and their families came together to create a Christian Universalist Society.

In 1831 the Revs. Issac Whitnall and Calvin Morton, both from NY, on a preaching mission found a “welcoming fellowship,” whom they noted, were working toward the building of a Union Meeting Hall, of which the local fellowship would “own almost half.” Olmsted donated $1000 toward the building (Robinson, p. 31) The First Universalist Society was formed and “fellowshipped” in 1834, worshipping in the Union Meeting Hall, along with the Methodists and Presbyterians.

The same year, the Western Reserve Association (org September 9, 1832) held their annual convention in Olmsted at the Union Meeting Hall, during which they adopted a new constitution, which states that the only heresy “shall be the denial of the authenticity of the scripture of the Old and New Testaments (‘Article 6,’ Robinson, p. 84-5.) “

By 1847 the Universalist Society had grown large enough to desire a church of their own, which they built in 1847, in the Greek Revival style at the prominent corner of Butternut and Coe Ridge (now Lorain) Roads. Construction was supervised by church member, John Ames, and cost $974 to build. The church bell was cast by a Boston foundry in 1851. The bell announces worship services, tolling for deaths through-out the community at large, and sounded the alarm for fires. The bell still chimes, although not as often. Local lore has it that the belfry served as a hiding place for slaves traveling the Underground Railroad.

In 1871, the church reorganized to become the First Christian Universalist Church. Believing in the equality of all, the church in 1878 called Abbie Danforth as pastor. Since then, a number of women have served the congregation in that capacity. From 1881 to 1882, the church underwent renovation, during which time the current stain-glass windows were installed.

Early in the 1960s North Olmsted decided to widen Lorain Rd. To protect the church, which would have sat feet from the road, the congregation in 1963 voted to move the church from her original location to her present location on Porter Rd.

The church became part of the merger between the Christian Universalist Church and the American Unitarian Association in 1961. In 1980 it was designated an Ohio Historic Site and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

[Images: Frank A. Mills, Date: April 29, 2022]

Bibliography
“A Tale of Two Influential Families: Settlement and Early History of North Olmsted." City of North Olmsted website [External Link]
Robinson, Elmo Arnold, 1923, The Universalist Church in Ohio. The Ohio Universalist Convention.
Plaque 94-18, 2010. The Ohio Historical Society. [Image Date: 11.14.23]

[Church history may be updated as new information comes to light.]