NIAGARA DISCOVERIES: Universalist churches in Niagara Falls and Lockport (2024)

Last week, Niagara Discoveries examined several Universalist churches that were established in some of the villages in the county. This week, let’s look in on the two city-based Universalist churches in Niagara County. Although the Lockport church was established before the Niagara Falls church, we’ll look first at the founding of that Universalist Society.

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The history of the Niagara Falls Universalist Society is scant. Records of the New York State Convention of Universalists (NYSCU) show that the “Universalist congregation of the Town and County of Niagara” met at the Eagle Tavern in Niagara Falls on May 13, 1844, to officially form the First Universalist Society of the Village of Niagara Falls (this is not to be confused with the current Unitarian Universalist Church on Main Street in Niagara Falls, which was founded in 1915). Three well-known Niagara Falls men were appointed trustees of the society: Parkhurst Whitney, Theodore Hulett and Nathan Robinson. The papers were “executed” by Niagara County Court Judge Lothrop Cooke. Following this, the record goes cold. How long this congregation existed, and where they met, are unknown. With the exception of NYSCU, three repositories that hold Universalist church records have nothing on a church or society in Niagara Falls until the founding of the present church at 639 Main Street.

The record picks up again in the 1880s but only in brief notices in the Niagara Falls Gazette that report the Ladies Aid Society, or the Sunday school of the Universalist Church “of this city,” will hold a picnic in Prospect Park. The church does not appear in the 1880s or 1890s Niagara Falls city directories. The first listing for the church appeared in the 1900 directory at 348 Main Street, with services on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. but “No regular pastor.” Subsequent directories have similar listings for the church. In the early 1900s, other mentions of the church are in the newspaper but much the same as the 1880s notices.

A headline in an unnamed newspaper (presumably the Niagara Falls Gazette) in the Monroe Fordham Collection at SUNY Buffalo State dated May 5, 1905 announced “Universalist Church is at Last Finished.” The article goes on to state that “The work of transforming the old Clark Furniture store” at 343 Main Street was finally complete. The church had been leasing the vacant space for two years but would now have a permanent home. What happened in the next two years could not be ascertained, but by 1907, the congregation was meeting in the Odd Fellows hall at the corner of Niagara and Fourth streets.

The last year the church is listed in the Niagara Falls City Directory is 1915, which is the same year that the Niagara Falls Unitarian Church was founded. Did the Universalist congregation disband, did they join the new Unitarian Church, or did they worship at one of the many other churches in the Cataract City? These are questions yet to be answered. The Universalist and the Unitarian denominations eventually merged in 1961. The present church in Niagara Falls is still an active congregation.

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The Lockport Universalist Church had its roots in 1835 when at least one Universalist minister preached in the village, and a year later Rev. Job Potter held meetings in the county court house and tried to garner enough interest to form a Universalist Society. But like in other places, his efforts were met with indifference and even hostility when some criticized his use of the court house for meetings. Six years passed before an official Universalist Society was formed in 1842, after Rev. Charles Hammond of the Middleport church came to Lockport “determined to make a trial and see what could be done for the cause of truth.”

No longer being welcome at the court house, the Methodists offered their sanctuary at the corner of Church and Niagara streets. While holding services there, “a number of converts were made to the faith in universal salvation, and united in the bond of church fellowship.” With so many converts, even the Methodist Church proved too small and they moved to Franklin Hall on Cottage Street. Events moved quickly in 1842 and 1843 with organization, incorporation, purchase of a lot at Church and Ontario streets, groundbreaking, construction and dedication all happening within a year and a half.

For the next 20 years, the congregation grew but also faced a few crises. In November 1854, the Great Lockport Fire destroyed several churches within a few feet of the Universalists’ but their stone structure sustained only minor damage. A more distressing situation began with the start of the Civil War in 1861. Although most Universalists tended to be pro-Union and anti-slavery, some members did not like their pastor, Rev. Richmond Fisk, expressing his political views from the pulpit, urging the congregation to re-elect Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 election. This caused several members and their families to withdraw from the church and Rev. Fisk left in 1865. The next few years were at first challenging, but then fulfilling, as the new pastor, Rev. William Van De Mark, and the congregation worked together to rebuild the membership and prepare the church for its 25th anniversary. On Jan. 22, 1868, “the newly arranged church in Lockport was re-dedicated to the service of God, with the appropriate title of The Church of the Redeemer.” The exterior front was re-faced with “Lockport stone” and the interior was frescoed and carpeted. New gas lights were installed and the seats were cushioned.

During the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century the membership remained steady, but by the 1930s the membership had declined and the church closed in 1936. In 1941 the property was bought by the First Presbyterian Church for $5,000 using a bequest left to them by Mabel T. Hamilton. The former church was then remodeled to accommodate a recreation center called the “Hamilton House.”

In 2005, a joint arrangement between First Presbyterian Church, the City of Lockport and the Niagara County Historical Society allowed for the development of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. This cooperative agreement saved, restored and reused one of Lockport’s oldest historic buildings. In 2024, through the generosity of Niagara History Center member and supporter Linda Covell, the building was purchased from First Presbyterian Church. This historic structure is now officially part of the Niagara History Center’s property holdings, alongside the 215 Niagara Street museum campus and the Col. William Bond House at 143 Ontario St.

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