Our original Articles of Association were signed on May 14, 1865, establishing us as the "First Congregational Unitarian Society" of Ann Arbor, MI. Over more than 150 years, we have had many name changes, the most recent in 2005 when we became the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor.

Our Articles of Association state:

We, the undersigned, desirous of securing to ourselves and our families the advantages of religious instructions and fellowship do hereby associate ourselves together under the name and title of the First Congregational Unitarian Society of Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the purpose of maintaining religious worship and conducting the temporal interests of a religious society in accordance with the Statute of the State of Michigan.

Signers of the original Articles of Association are

Jacob Volland
R. Schafer
G. D. Hill
Jno. E. Clark
Sophie Polland
James B. Gott
Emma Glasier
Mary G. Mott
Joseph W. Linley
Murray A. White
Richard Mott
C. B. Thompson
James F. Avery
Moses Rogers
George Clark
Mrs. William Welleny
G. B. Dows
Jay W. Cowding
Harriet M. Waite
G. Hooker
L. Porter
Mrs. Sybil Lawrence
E. Lawrence
Mrs. Ann Traver
Mrs. William Fisher
Mrs. Catherine Smith
Mrs. Joseph Whitlock
Arnold M. Pierce
A. A. Ormsby
Mrs. E. L. Sanford
T. S. Sanford
J. B. Jackson
B. A. Jackson
Richard Glasier
Robert Glasier
Rufus Cope
Henry K. White

From Marjorie Reade's history of the congregation: " At least three members of the former Universalist congregation were among the founding members of the Unitarian Society which began services in a rented room in the County Court House in 1865: James B. Gott, an attorney and secretary to the Board of Education for many years, and Mrs. E. L. Sanford and T. S. Sanford, proprietors of the Unity Block. A most active member of the group was George D. Hill, formerly a Quaker, a prosperous farmer and civic leader (his apple orchard was bordered by what is now Hill Street and Packard Street; the Hill Opera House was located on North Main Street. Other prominent founding members were Moses Rogers, a dealer in agricultural implements; Jacob Volland, harness dealer; and Emma, Richard, and Robert Glasier, farmers east of town. These names are familiar to us today for the streets, buildings, or subdivisions named in their honor."  Robert Glasier was a "conductor in the Ann Arbor underground railroad.