Our Fellowship

We, the members of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of La Crosse, gather together to:

• Sustain a caring community that nurtures, empowers, and challenges;
• Foster respect for individuality and diversity;
• Promote an active and ongoing quest for truth, meaning, and justice;
• Explore and celebrate the mysteries and interconnectedness of life;
• Nurture our children, teach them our religious history and traditions, and encourage them to develop ethical and spiritual values;
• Honor the principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association;
• Live this covenant as a positive influence for ourselves and our community.

Our Mission is to support all people in their spiritual development or search for meaning in their lives in order to build a more just and peaceful world.

• 1850's: Universalists meeting on an informal basis. At least one advertised in a La Crosse newspaper.
• October 4, 1860: Universalists organize, meeting at the First Ward School. Initial document signed by 26 persons. Seth Barnes of St. Anthony Falls named pastor.
• June 19, 1865: Universalists receive state incorporation.
• July 1865: First Universalist Church ground-breaking, 8th & Cass.
• August 1866: First Universalist Church completed.
• 1870: First Universalist Church votes to rename itself "St. Paul's Universalist Church."
• 1895-1905: St. Paul's in La Crosse is the largest Universalist congregation in Wisconsin.
• 1920's: Declining membership leads to St. Paul's Universalist Chruch being rented to the Church of Christ.
• 1930: Universalist congregation dissolved.
• 1951: Unitarian Fellowship organized in La Crosse under the leadership of Carroll Gundersen.
• 1951-1960: Unitarian Fellowship holds Sunday evening meetings at the YWCA building (West Avenue & Main).
• 1961: Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of La Crosse organized, new name reflecting the nationwide organizational merger.
• 1961-present: Fellowship conducts Sunday services, first at the Grandview Building (17th & Main), then at the Southside Seniors Center (1220 Denton).
• Summer 1995: Fellowship receives incorporation in the state of Wisconsin.
• Present: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of La Crosse still going strong, now meeting at the Pump House.

History taken from Universalist and Unitarian Milestones in La Crosse, by Ronald Malzer and Bill Katra. Edited and updated by Greg Dihlmann-Malzer.

Sunday Services: 10:00 a.m.
Refreshments & Fellowship: Following the program.

The Pump House
119 King Street
La Crosse, Wisconsin