In 1952, encouraged by Dr. Joself Barth, minister of the Unitarian Church of Miami, Bob and Edie Ross, along with Bill and Anita Blakeslee, began to organize a Unitarian Fellowship. In the beginning, meetings were held in the homes of members of the group. One year later, enough interest in the group resulted in the formation of a Unitarian Fellowship, and in 1953, the Fellowship joined the American Unitarian Association.

The Alfar Dairy Club House, the YMCA, and the Women's Club all provided space during the 50's for the group to hold services. Dr. Barth and his assistant, Dr. Eugene Pickett, preached for the group frequently. Later, Dr. Von Ogden Vogt, Minister Emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago, who had retired to Vero Beach, came to preach about once a month.

In 1958, when larger quarters were needed, the Old Greek Orthodox Church building on Broward Street became our first church home.

In 1963, we obtained full church status in the Unitarian Universalist Association. Also, in that year, we purchased the First Christian Church in West Palm Beach. Included was the sanctuary and an annex that we used for our church school.

In 1970, the church building was almost entirely destroyed by fire, after which the annex was remodeled to serve as a meeting room, kitchen, office, and church school. This building, at the corner of Florida and Hibiscus Street in West Palm Beach, served our congregation until the move to our current church quarters here on Prosperity Farms Road, North Palm Beach, in 1987.

The generosity and hard work of many of our members combined to bring the dream of our new church to fruition. In particular, the vision of Ed Burnham, the fundraising efforts of T> Elbert Clemmons, the extraordinary generosity of Alex Dreyfoos, John and Lydia Dodge, Augusta Wells, Harriette Glassner, Ed and Glen Burnham and Elbert and Lanie Clemmons, enabled the church to complete our building program and to fully pay for it.

Our church has been served by a number of distinguished ministers. Dr. William J. Arms was our first full-time minister, serving from 1958 to 1962. Other full-time ministers were the Rev. Jack Loadman, 1962 to 1967, and the Rev John D. Rose. Dr. Waldemar Argow, Minister Emeritus of the First Unitarian Church in Toledo, Ohio, came to our church in 1974 serving until 1980. Dr. Ralph H. Halverson, Minister Emeritus of the First Parish, Cambridge, Massachusetts, came to us in 1981 serving until 1989. The Rev. Janet Newman served us as interim Minister - 1989 to 1990. She was followed by the Rev Roger Cowan, coming from First Unitarian Church in Miami. The Rev. John Rex is presently serving as minister.

Any history of our church would be incomplete without mentioning our many achievements in Social Concerns, i.e. the founding of the Family Service Agency (now the Center for Family Services) 1n 1965; the Palm Beach Funeral Society in 1968; the Palm Beach Chapter of the ACLU in 1972; Planned Parenthood of the Palm Beach Area in 1972 (providing office space for them for two years as well as many volunteers); active participation in the Civil Rights movement through the Florida Council on Human Relations; helping found the Association of Religious Organizations (an interfaith inter-racial organization); providing active and moral support for Emergency Medical Assistance, Inc., a foundation which assists poor women in obtaining safe and legal abortions; as well as participation in other activities too numerous to mention here.

The First UU of Palm Beach County has had an exciting history, parallel to our own. Do drop by for a visit, and tell them we sent you.