History of UU Waco

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waco is a faith community with a 70-year-plus history of energy and growth. We have many cherished traditions, but we remain open to change and we are always ready for growth. 

Our Fellowship was started between 1952 and 1957 by five Central Texas families who were looking for a faith tradition which valued reason, tolerance and social justice. In 1957, when membership reached 10-12 adult members, the group received official recognition from the Unitarian Association in Boston. At the time, Waco’s Unitarians met in the homes of the members, taking turns hosting. The early Fellowship days were marked by frequent moves and change, as young families joined and worked to keep the Fellowship going and growing.

We began as the Waco Unitarian Fellowship in the late 1950s; following the merger of the Unitarians and Universalists in 1961, we became the Waco Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Our most recent change came in 1991, when we switched a few words around and became the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waco. This most recent change served a couple of purposes, most importantly, making it easier to find us in the phonebook! Today you will hear our members refer to us as “UUFW” or as “UUWaco.”  Both of these are just fine by us.

In the early years we moved around from one rented facility to another, meeting everywhere from members’ homes, to a hotel conference room, to the Waco YWCA (seen above). In 1978, we finally became members of the landed gentry, with the purchase of a big, beautiful house in a somewhat run-down neighborhood. The house at 707 North 19th Street (seen below) was home for the next 13 years. We loved it, but once we hired our first minister (Rev. Marjorie Montgomery), we began to grow faster than ever, and it was soon clear that we needed more room.

 In 1991, we purchased a new property, and after extensive remodeling, moved into our new home, 4209 North 27th Street, in March of 1992.