Last Sunday (March 15, 2026) we celebrated the 35th anniversary of the date on which our congregation bought back the original Athens meeting house. I shared the following history of the meeting house at that celebration:
The Athens Universalist congregation was organized in 1849, with twelve members. By February, 1851, they had acquired a ¼-acre lot on North St. and drafted a design for a meeting house. Construction probably began later that year.
The project, which cost about $2,000, was funded by contributions from almost 100 donors, most of whom were not church members. The non-member donors included local businessmen, as well as friends, neighbors, and family members of church members. Some gave money; others contributed labor or building materials.
The original building, which was probably completed in 1852, consisted of the current sanctuary and the basement below. The sanctuary had a balcony and a tall steeple over the main entrance.
The building was remodeled during the winter of 1885-1886. Case Bros. and Leonard of Troy installed new seats, removed the steeple and balcony, and painted the interior and exterior of the building. The cost was almost $2000, of which church members pledged about one third. The balance may have been paid by the state Universalist Convention.
Ten years later, more repairs were needed. In August, 1895, the Athens Daily News published “an account of the sinking of the floor in the Athens Universalist church Sunday evening. Repairs on the foundation caused the props to sink a little, which alarmed the congregation.”
The congregation debated two options: repair the meeting house, or build a new one on the lot at the northeast corner of Main and Pine streets. The record book does not state what the final decision was. Newspaper articles from later in the 1890s mention the “Universalists of North Athens” – possibly a splinter group? – and their plans to build a meeting house at the corner of Main and Pine. But nothing came of those plans; by 1909 the local Odd Fellows had purchased the site and built their hall, which now houses the Mad Hatter Café. The North street meeting house was presumably repaired.
In 1909 an addition was built on the east side of the building – what is now the Social Room and upstairs meeting rooms. The cost of construction, about $2100, was financed by a $1600 bequest from the estate of Mrs. Sarah Jane Morley and a $500 loan from church member W. H. H. Gore. The perpetually cash-strapped congregation paid interest – but no principal – on the Gore loan for four years. In 1913 Gore agreed to forgive 1/3 of the loan, and a congregation member paid another 1/3 of the loan, leaving $165 to be paid by the congregation.
By the 1940s church membership had dwindled, and efforts to attract new members were unsuccessful. In November, 1947, the congregation voted to sell the meeting house to the local Christian Scientist congregation for $2000. The remaining members joined the Sheshequin Universalist congregation.
In the 1980s Bob and Nell Allen and their four sons moved to Athens and joined the Sheshequin church. Both Bob and Nell were lifelong Unitarians; Bob’s father was a Unitarian minister. The family brought new energy and leadership to the tiny congregation. In 1991 they began looking for another meeting house – one with amenities such as running water, toilets, and central heating. As it turned out, the Christian Scientists were selling the original Athens church building, and the congregation bought it back.
I believe the congregation borrowed money from the Unitarian Universalist Association. I remember when, in the early 2000s, Treasurer Paul Shapiro announced that we had paid off the mortgage. We held a ceremonial burning of the mortgage document.
Since we have sold the Sheshequin meeting house, we are especially grateful to still own a meeting house which holds so much of our congregation’s history.