Our History

The roots of our congregation began in the Universalist tradition. In 1781, Universalist thinkers in Milford started meeting to hear the message of God's love preached by Adams Streeter, our first minister. The town history reports that Streeter and his seven children moved to Noah Wiswall’s house in 1781. Wiswall and his family had a place out on East Main Street, near Cedar Street. From that base in Milford, Streeter also carried his message to towns in Rhode Island and to the North Shore of Massachusetts.

In 1785, a small band of believers adopted a covenant and the title of “The First Universalist Society” for their congregation. For many years, the church met in Noah Wiswall's home, building its first sanctuary in 1819, a second in 1850, and started construction on the Pine Street building in 1898. Dedicated in 1900, our church edifice is constructed of Milford pink granite, and is adorned with graceful stained glass windows crafted by J&R Lamb Studios.

The congregation called Adin Ballou to be its minister in 1824. Our central sanctuary windows were dedicated to Adin Ballou by congregants who remembered him, not only as their minister, but as the founder of a Christian utopian community at Hopedale.

The congregation became a part of the Universalist and Unitarian merger in 1961, and adopted the name “The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Milford” some years later.