The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington has built a place for meeting, singing and advancing social justice and responding to this need for a community connection. In November, UUCA dedicated its most recent $6.8 million building addition. And, at the same time celebrated the UUCA’s 65th year anniversary as a church.
Clergy from several faith communities took part in the ceremony: Fr. Andrew Merrow, from St. Mary’s Episcopal; Rev. James Victor, from Mt. Olive Baptist; Fr. Tuck Grinnell, from St. Charles Borromeo; and Rabbi Joshua Ackerman, from Etz Hayim – each gave a blessing and encouragement for interfaith connections. The most celebrated attendee of the day was founding member of the church, Robert Eldridge.
The ceremony dedicated the UUCA Center building as a meeting place, intended to bridge between community needs, members and the future. Through the years, the UUCA has expanded its physical space several times. Its original brick meeting hall had an education wing added in 1952. At that time it was a little church in the woods at the corner of Arlington Boulevard and George Mason Drive. In 1964 the church built its current sanctuary closer to the major corner — a modern structure designed by architect Charles Goodman. The sanctuary has received several architectural awards; one an award for excellence from the Metropolitan Washington Board of Trade. The church added a $3.7 million administrative and classroom wing to the sanctuary in 1994. UUCA’s latest $6 million addition includes a large hall space on the upper level for meetings and theatrical performances and on the lower level an activity room for multi-purpose uses.
In 1949, the Unitarian Church of Arlington, sponsored a racially integrated summer camp program, a time when Virginia held strong to its segregated ideals. In 1958, a UCA (at that time it was the Unitarian Church of Arlington) member, an African-American woman, defied Virginia’s segregated seating law by attending the church picnic in Bon Air Park in Arlington and subsequently was arrested. In 1959, the church made headlines when it received a bomb threat when a rabbi was invited to give the sermon. UCA was active in the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s and named its original church building “Reeb Hall” after James Reeb, a Unitarian minister who was murdered in Selma, Ala. in 1964.
The UUCA’s 65th anniversary celebration featured an art exhibit that highlighted the many activities of the church groups along with ecumenical and community groups over the years. They included accomplishments such as the development of affordable housing for the elderly through helping to found Culpepper Garden. Church groups advocated for development of foster care homes in Arlington, shelter for refugees, shelter for the homeless, LGBT community and other social justice issues.