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UNITY CHURCH

The Unitarian Church is eighth religious institution to found a church in Omaha, Nebraska. Articles of incorporation were signed on August 22, 1869, by 26 prominent Omahans. A site was purchased on the southeast corner of 17th & Cass streets. The property was known as “Redick’s Grove and owned by the John I. Redick family. The brick Gothic Style chapel designed by Omaha architects John and Alan McDonald was dedicated on January 29, 1871. A Romanesque style addition to the chapel was built in 1891.

A minister in this church, Reverend Newton M. Mann, was said to be the first American clergyman to endorse the philosophy of evolution. Unity Church was sold in 1913 to the German American Society. It was destroyed in 1966 during the construction of Interstate 480.