On May 9, 1950, the Unitarian Fellowship of Asheville was organized with a membership of ten. In less than a year the first issue of the Newsletter (April 1951) reported a doubling of the numbers to twenty-two and a bank balance of $48.96.

At first, the group met in the basement of the First Congregational Church, with members conducting the services. The congregation and church school met in the YMCA building from 1953 through 1956, with a part-time pastor leading services during the summers of 1953 and 1954.

The congregation called its first minister, the Rev. Dan Welch, in 1955. In 1956 the church purchased a home in West Asheville, where services were held until construction of its current campus at One Edwin Place in 1972. The first service in our current building was held on May 7, 1972.

In October 1968, in recognition of the 1961 merger of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America, the church changed its name to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville.

The Rev. Mark Ward is the church’s seventh minister and began his service in August of 2004.

As of July 2008, we celebrate having more than 590 members and 125 friends, along with many children at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville.