A timeline that give institutional chronology of the Unity Society and the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto \u2014 and also introduces you to some of the interesting Unitarians who lived in Palo Alto from 1891 to 1950. The links mostly go to Wikipedia or other online encyclopedia pages, or to local history websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1891-1894 \u2014 A few Unitarians move to Palo Alto, including Emma Rendtorff<\/p>\n\n\n\n
March, 1895 \u2014\u00a0Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes<\/a>, a Universalist, is hired by Pacific Women\u2019s Unitarian Conference to do \u201cmissionary work\u201d Spring, 1900 \u2014 Brief failed attempt to start another Unitarian society in Palo Alto<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1905-1906 \u2014 Rev. George Stone,<\/a> American Unitarian Association Field Secretary, acting minister Sept. 13, 1906 \u2014 Rev. Sydney Bruce Snow ordained and installed as first called minister of the church Sept. 1909 \u2014 Rev. Clarence Reed becomes minister July, 1915 \u2014 49 members in Women\u2019s Alliance Nov., 1919 \u2014 \u201cVoted to re-establish our Sunday school at once\u201d (it had been closed due to influenza epidemic) Dec., 1921 \u2014 Rev. Elmo Arnold Robinson<\/a>, a Universalist and pacifist, becomes minister Summer, 1926 \u2014 Elmo Robinson resigns, Leila Thompson becomes minister 1928-1929 \u2014 Student minister Clarence Vickland, funded by the American Unitarian Association, leads services Feb., 1947 \u2014 Alfred Niles meets with Rev. Delos O\u2019Brian of the American Unitarian Association to discuss starting a new church in Palo Alto A timeline that give institutional chronology of the Unity Society and the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto \u2014 and also introduces you to some of the interesting Unitarians who lived in Palo Alto from 1891 to 1950. The links mostly go to Wikipedia or other online encyclopedia pages, or to local history websites. 1891-1894 \u2014 … Continue reading “Timeline of Palo Alto Unitarians, 1891-1950”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[284,489],"class_list":["post-8970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bay-area-calif","tag-palo-alto","tag-unitarians-in-palo-alto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8971,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions\/8971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/yauu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
May 1-5, 1895 \u2014 Palo Alto Unitarians Luna and Minnie Hoskins attend Pacific Unitarian Conference in San Jose
May 5, 1895 \u2014 Eliza Wilkes preaches at Memorial Church, Stanford University; first woman to preach at Stanford
Autumn, 1895 \u2014 Eliza Wilkes leads Unitarian services in Palo Alto
Jan. 12, 1896 \u2014 Unity Society of Palo Alto formally organized, Executive Committee includes both men and women; members include\u00a0Anna Probst Zschokke,<\/a> John and Isabel Butler,<\/a>\u00a0and George Blakesley, Palo Alto\u2019s first dentist
March, 1897 \u2014 Unity Society has supply preachers
Spring, 1897 \u2014 Unity Society ceases activity<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUnitarian Church of Palo Alto, 1905-1934<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
April 18, 1906 \u2014 Major earthquake shuts down worship services for some months while members participate in relief work
Sept. 10, 1905 \u2014 Unitarian services begin in Jordan\u2019s Hall, University Ave., downtown Palo Alto (not Jordan Hall at Stanford)
Oct., 1905 \u2014 The Women\u2019s Alliance, a key group in the church, is organized
Nov. 12, 1905 \u2014 Church formally organized; early members include lexicographer Ewald Fl\u00fcgel,<\/a> entomologist John Merton Aldrich,<\/a> and economist Jacob de Haas<\/a>
1905 \u2014 Anna Probst Zschokke,<\/a> the \u201cMother of Palo Alto,\u201d joins the church and the Women\u2019s Alliance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nov., 1906 \u2014 At 1st anniversary dinner, lay leader Prof. Karl Rendtorff says there are 120 people in church
Mar. 24, 1907 \u2014 New church building formally dedicated
Nov., 1908 \u2014 50-60 at annual dinner
May, 1909 \u2014 Sydney Snow resigns<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1909 \u2014 Average attendance in Sunday school is 25
Aug.-Dec., 1910 \u2014\u00a0Rev. Florence Buck<\/a>\u00a0is minister while Reed is on leave; Buck\u2019s life partner, Marion Murdoch, does not join her in Palo Alto
1911 \u2014 Palo Alto Unitarians are local leaders in gaining women the right to vote in California, including\u00a0Alice Locke Park<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Emily Karns Dixon<\/a>
Oct. 8, 1912 \u2014\u00a0Baha\u2019i prophet<\/a>\u00a0\u2018Abdu\u2019l-Bah\u00e1<\/a>\u00a0speaks at the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto
1913 \u2014 Poet\u00a0William Herbert Carruth<\/a>\u00a0joins the church
Sept. 6, 1914 \u2014 New Social Hall dedicated
Nov., 1914 \u2014 130 at annual dinner, 60 in Sunday school
June, 1915 \u2014 Clarence Reed resigns<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1915-1916 \u2014 Physicist\u00a0Cornelis Bol<\/a>\u00a0is one of the Sunday school teachers
Nov., 1915 \u2014 Rev. William Short, Jr., a pacifist, becomes minister
1916 \u2014 Conflict between pacifists and pro-war members splits the church, attendance plummets
June, 1917 \u2014 William Short resigns
Nov., 1917 \u2014 Rev. Bradley Gilman, a supporter of the First World War, becomes minister
1918 \u2014 William Short jailed for draft evasion;<\/a> church member and pacifist\u00a0Prof. Guido Hugo Marx<\/a>\u00a0attempts to bail him out\u00a0
Nov., 1918 \u2014 80 at annual dinner
Early 1919? \u2014 Worship services and Sunday school halted due to influenza epidemic
Sept., 1919 \u2014 Bradley Gilman resigns effective November<\/p>\n\n\n\n
c. 1919 \u2014 Pacifist and educator Josephine Duveneck<\/a> joins the church
1919-1921 \u2014 Lay people lead worship; speakers include David Starr Jordan<\/a>; church member and writer Edith Mirrielees<\/a> enjoys the lay-led worship services
1920 \u2014 Pacifists Alice Locke Park<\/a> and Marion Starr Alderton resign in protest of church\u2019s pro-war stance
1920 \u2014 Early birth control advocate Sylvie Thompson Thygeson<\/a>joins the church
Jan., 1921 \u2014 Sunday school enrollment 24, average attendance 16; Early sexuality educator Bertha Chapman Cady<\/a> is one of the teachers<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dec. 4, 1921 \u2014 70 at dinner to greet Robinson
1922 \u2014 Edith Eugenie Johnson, M.D.,<\/a> joins the church
1923 \u2014 David Starr Jordan,<\/a> retired Stanford president, eugenicist and pacifist, joins the church
1923 \u2014 Approx. 25 young adults in young adult group; one member of the group is Russell Varian<\/a>
1925 \u2014 Sunday school enrollment 69
1924 \u2014 Historian Frank Golder<\/a> joins the church
Dec., 1925 \u2014 Elmo Robinson goes on leave to do advanced study at Harvard
Feb. 7, 1926 \u2014 Rev. Leila Lasley Thompson is ordained by the church, first woman to be ordained by any Palo Alto congregation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fall, 1927 \u2014 Alfred S. Niles moves to Palo Alto, finds a dying congregation
Dec., 1927 \u2014 Leila Thompson resigns
early 1928 \u2014 Congregation ends its corporate existence; the American Unitarian Association repossesses the building<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1929 \u2014 Key lay leaders Emma and Karl Rendtorff retire away from Palo Alto
1929-1934 \u2014 Student minister Merrill Otis Bates, funded by the American Unitarian Association, leads services
Oct. 11, 1932 \u2014 Final meeting of the Women\u2019s Alliance
April, 1934 \u2014 American Unitarian Association sells the building to a fundamentalist group<\/p>\n\n\n\nPalo Alto Unitarian Society, 1947-present<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
April 6, 1947 \u2014 Delos O\u2019Brian conducts the first meeting of the Palo Alto Unitarian Society
April, 1947 \u2014 Rev. Nat Lauriat, minister in San Jose, begins serving Palo Alto a few hours a week
1947 \u2014 A few members of the old Unitarian Church of Palo Alto join the new Palo Alto Unitarian Society, including Alfred and Frances Niles, Edna True, Ruth Steinmetz, and Rufus Kimball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"