Our Church History

Towson Unitarian Universalist Church grew out of First Unitarian Church in downtown Baltimore. During the 1958-1959 church year a task force from First Unitarian Church studied the idea of having fellowships initiated in the Greater Baltimore Area. The congregational meeting in May 1960 approved the recommendation that fellowships be started in Catonsville and Towson. 

In August, some 75 people met in the Lutherville Elementary School to explore the idea. In January 1961, a follow-up meeting was held in the Women's Club of Towson. The thirty-five who were there voted to proceed with a congregation for the Greater Towson Area. Services would begin on the third Sunday of January and the name being Towson Unitarian Fellowship.

Having initiated Sunday services with church school and a choir, the 35 charter members grew to 85 by the end of May. We passed Fellowship status, allowing us to change our name to Towson Unitarian Church. We were recognized as the fastest growing fellowship in Unitarian history.

Subsequently the land at 1710 Dulaney Valley Road was purchased through contributions and by the sale of "bonds."  Our next initiative was to hire a minister. We began the search during 1961-1962 church year. David MacPherson was called as the first minister of TUUC.

We now had a minister, land, church school and a choir. But we didn't have the building for our church community. We held house meetings to gather our "wants list". The Building Committee viewed several architect's structures and the Finance Committee prepared a construction budget. We were ready. Mark Beck, an architect and TUUC member who had been advising our Building Committee gave in to our request for designing a structure for us.

September 10, 1972, after much hard work, not the least of which was staying within our $200,000 budget, we dedicated our new church, twelve years after our first service in the Women’s Club of Towson.

Initially, members conducted youth religious education, but the growing number of families with children created a welcomed demand for a more formal program with a professional director, so TUUC hired its first Director of Religious Exploration (DRE). Our current DRE is Joyce Duncan, who has been in this position since 2004.

Since those days, TUUC has grown into a well-established congregation of over 200 members and friends and had four called ministers. Our current minister, Reverend Clare Petersberger, answered the call in 1999.