History – First Congregational UCC Boulder

Early Years

In 1864, fourteen spirited souls founded our church in a cottonwood grove east of Boulder near Valmont Butte. Shortly thereafter, when they recognized that the fledgling community of Boulder was destined to become the county seat and the center of education, they moved the new church into the city’s heart. By 1870, they had built the first church building on a hillside above the creek, where the tower was a visible sign of hope for miles down the valley. Within a generation, the congregation outgrew the first building, where Carnegie Library now sits, and a new Sanctuary was constructed across the street, on the corner of Pine Street and Broadway. It was completed and dedicated in 1908. While other parts of our campus are new, we continue to worship in our historic Sanctuary.

Our first building was the first church built in the city of Boulder as shown by these original 1870 photos accessed from the Boulder Carnegie Library for Local History. Members of our church, including our first pastor, were instrumental in the founding of the University of Colorado. We are the oldest Congregational Church in the state of Colorado.

First Congregational Church original building accessed from the Carnegie Library for Local History, Boulder, Colorado — Church was dedicated in 1870 free from debt. The church bell was brought by oxcart in 1869.

First Congregational Church original building photo in 1870 accessed from the Carnegie Library for Local History, Boulder, Colorado — View of the original Congregational Church in 1870 with a horse-drawn surrey out front.

Our congregation became part of the newly formed United Church of Christ (UCC), an innovative merging in 1957 of five distinct Christian traditions – each with its own history. Taking as our motto Jesus’ prayer for church unity, “That they may all be one,” the UCC has affirmed from its earliest days that Christians can live in one body of faith even when we differ.

UCC History

Growth for a New Century

To make room for a growing membership, and provide greater outreach to the Boulder community, the congregation voted in 2001 to expand and renovate our campus with an ambitious building plan that included the building of the three-story Faith Center, renovation of our historic Sanctuary, and the creation of a link between the two buildings.

Aerial view of church building showing roofing work

From initial dreams through three capital campaigns and countless building committee meetings, the church journeyed 12 years to arrive at the beautiful church campus that buzzes with activity today.

In addition to serving as the center of our congregation’s life and our many ministries, our facility is joyfully and generously shared with more than 30 organizations – Twelve Step programs and social service, community, arts, and music groups.

Strategic Plan

In late 2021, a series of Visioning Conversations led us to explore lessons from our pandemic experience, leading to next steps for our future. Faith in Action, our Strategic Plan, was adopted in October 2022, and its implementation is well underway. It focuses on four main goal areas:

Social Justice
Faith Formation
Congregational Care
Communications

A new staffing design has been developed, and we are working to re-organize our boards and committees to align with our priorities. Join us to see how our vision will continue to unfold!