A Brief History
Union Congregational Church was born as the First Presbyterian Church
of Green Bay in the old Fort Howard Hospital in January, 1836. Early
in its life, the First Presbyterian Church became a part of the Winnebago
Association of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches. When the
Winnebago Association dropped its Presbyterian affiliation, the First
Presbyterian Church of Green Bay also changed its affiliation and its
name. We have been Union Congregational Church since 1899. In
January of 1964, Union Congregational Church voted to join the majority
of Congregational Churches by becoming a part of the United Church of
Christ. Gathered twelve years before Wisconsin statehood, this broad-
spirited congregation has a strong heritage of social involvements,
including:
- being a stop on the Underground Railroad
- sponsoring a neighborhood youth center
- organizing the Astor Neighborhood Association
- bringing Habitat for Humanity to Green Bay
- playing an instrumental part in the founding of the Ecumenical
Center at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay
- along with the Salvation Army, beginning a program for temporary
housing for families in crisis that includes Union Church's own
Jubilee House and the Ecumenical Partnership for Housing.