Introduction

Every Sunday the bells ring telling the world it is once more the day set aside for worship of God.

The Clifton Unitarian Church stands back from the street on the corner of Payne Street and Rastetter Avenue. It is a small white frame church, and on viewing it one wouldn not think that it has had the unusual history which I have discovered belongs to it. It began as the Westermann Memorial Evangelical Church. This is the story which I have learned.

Chapter I

The Clifton Evangelical Church
(Westermann Memorial)

In the nineteenth century the Westermanns settled on a homestead in Kentucky. The farm ran from what is now Rastetter Avenue to Jane Street and from Frankfort Avenue to Lexington Road. Beargrass Creek ran through the farm a the lower end of the property near Lexington Road. Also, down in that section was a large rock quarry which Henry Bickel Company now owns and operates. The family lived in a four-room log cabin on the corner where the church now stands. Here, in 1843, Katherine Westermann was born.

The Westermann Log Cabin

In 1837 the Lubeck, Germany, a baby boy, Charles Henry Fust, was born. When he was seventeen he came from Germany to America and settled in Louisville. He started in business first as a wholesale butcher. As a large corporation came into being he found his trade decreasing to such a degree that he quit this business and became a real estate dealer.

Charles met Katherine Westermann; they fell in love and were married. In the meantime he bought the homestead which belonged to the Westermanns. The property was divided into lots, and parts of it were sold. The Fusts lived in a large two-story house now at 2245 Payne Street about a half square from the old log cabin.

About 1900 the church had its beginning. Services were held on Sunday afternoons in the two front rooms of the Fust home. The Rev. Conrad Held, minister of the Bethlehem Evangelical Church, came to hold the services. The congregation grew too large for the front rooms; therefore Charles Fust, on September 28, 1903, donated to the church the ground on which the log cabin stood. At the time a Negro family was living in the cabin. They moved into a different house, and the church used the log cabin as its meeting place.

In 1903 construction of the church was begun. It was called the Westermann Memorial Evangelical Church, named for the family that originally owned the property. In that year the church had its first regular minister, the Rev. W. F. Simons.

Above, Clifton Evangelical Church facing Rastetter Avenue. Right, interior of Clifton Evangelical Church

At first the services were held entirely in German. In the constitution of May 31, 1903, provision was made for German services at least one Sunday morning a month.

In April 1904, the church became a member of the German Evangelical Synod of North America. On January 2, 1906, the name of the church was changed to the Clifton Evangelical Church.

While on a visit in Germany, Charles Fust died. His wife Katherine gave bells to the church in his memory. Near the vestibule is a plaque with this dedication,

To the Glory of God and the Memory
Of Charles H. Fust the Bells of
Our church are dedicated.
November 8, 1908

The Rev. Mr. Simons remained until October 1910. In May, 1911, the Rev. Mr. G. Theodore Hempelmann came as the new minister.

The minister in 1942, the Rev. G. Theodore Hempelmann

"Owing to the clause in our constitution which calls for male members on the Board, a resolution was drawn up by the members of the Ladies' Aid and presented. We the members of the Ladies' Aid of the Clifton Evangelical Church as the congregation to change that part of the constitution which calls for male members only on the Board to read as follows -- that any member of the church over 21 years of age is eligible for membership on the Board."

Inasmuch as women did not yet play a large part in such matters, the change was brought up for much discussion. At the next meeting, April 2, 1917, this change in the constitution was made, and three women were elected as new members to the Board of Trustees. This was probably the first church in the country to make a change of this kind.

Also, at the meeting of January 1, 1917, steps were taken which finally caused the whole denominational change of the church. A committee was appointed to revise the old constitution. In the old constitution of May 31, 1903, was this article.

Article II
"This church acknowledges the Holy scriptures to be the Word of God, and therefore the only infallible rule of faith and practice. We accept also the symbolical books of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches (i.e. Augsburg Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism) as correct explanations of the Bible. In their differences of interpretations we refer to the respective passages of Holy Writ."

On questioning it was discovered that no one of the congregation knew what the symbolical books were; therefore, in the revision this article was omitted. In its place was found this article from the revision made on April 2, 1917.

Article I

Principles

1. The Universal Fatherhood of God.
2. The Universal Brotherhood of Man.
3. The Equality of the Sexes and the same standard of life for both.
4. The superiority of Human Rights over Property Rights and the subordination of institutions to human well-being.
5. Personal liberty in matters of conscience, speech and activity, limited by and in keeping with collective good.
6. The limitless possibilities of man and society under a social order of justice.
7. The Organic Union of the Human Race, a universal co-operative commonwealth.

This revision had taken place among the church members, by practically unanimous vote, and they saw no reason to inform the Synod of the changes.

At about the same time St. John's Evangelical Church, under the leadership of the Rev. Mr. Stilli, informed the German Evangelical Synod that it was changing its constitution. The Synod refused to let the constitution be changed; therefore, the majority of the congregation left the church and under the Rev. Mr. Stilli's leadership began the People's Church of Louisville, Kentucky. They held services in McCauley's Theater about one year.

When the Rev. Mr. Hempelmann saw the outcome of St. John's revisions, he decided that the Synod had better be informed in some manner about the changes in the Constitution of Clifton Evangelical Church. At that time three churches, Christ's Evangelical Church, Bethlehem, and Clifton Evangelical Church, published a newspaper. In the section pertaining to the news from Clifton Church, mention was made of the changes in the constitution.

Shortly after this a letter was received from the Rev. Herman Schiek, President of the Indiana District of the Evangelical Synod, demanding knowledge of these changes. When he learned the sharp revision he wrote a letter forbidding services to be held. This letter was disregarded.

On June 24, 1918, membership in the German Evangelical Synod of North America was cancelled. A letter was received from the Synod to the effect that the debt on the church, about $6,000, was too great a burden to bother with holding the property.

Because of the break with the Synod about one fifth of the membership was lost; but still the congregation felt that the change was necessary, and that it could not with clear conscience readopt the old constitution merely to remain a member of the Synod.

Chapter II

A New Denomination
Clifton Unitarian Church

After the break with the German Evangelical Synod the Clifton Evangelical Church became a sort of floating church with no real denomination. However, it continued under the same name. For a time it joined an association of independent churches, made up of the People's Church of Louisville and the People's Church of Cincinnati. The People's Church of Louisville lasted only a year, and at its disintegration the association ceased to function.

Minutes taken at a special board meeting of March 24, 1922, read as follows:

"A called meeting of the board of trustees was held on this date for the purpose of deciding whether or not the board would deem it advisable to affiliate with the Unitarian Conference. By unanimous vote it was agreed to recommend to the congregation at the quarterly meeting that this church affiliate with the Western Unitarian Conference, the American Unitarian Association, and the General Unitarian Conference.

It was also voted to suggest to the congregation that it would be well to adopt a different name. Two names suggested by the board were Clifton Unitarian Church and Clifton Community Church."

Clifton Unitarian Church, 1942

At the meeting of June 26, 1922, it was moved and carried that the congregation should ratify the action in regard to the congregation’s uniting with the Unitarian Conference taken up at the previous meeting. At this meeting another name, East End Unitarian Church, was also suggested. The name of the church was selected by ballot taken between June 26, 1922, and August 7, 1922. Clifton Unitarian received the highest number of votes. At the board meeting of August 7, 1922, suggestion was made that for a time no steps be taken to change the name legally. At the board meeting of July 7, 1924, the Rev. Mr. Hempelmann reported that documents changing the name had been sent to the court house and a certified copy sent to Frankfort.

In November, 1928, the Rev. Mr. Hempelmann left the church, and two others followed him -- the Rev. John Hershey, February, 1929 to October, 1931, and the Rev. Eugene W. Sutherland, November, 1931 to September, 1935. On April 1, 1936, the Rev. Mr. Hempelmann returned as minister and at the present time is still with the church.

I think it is here fitting to put forth the principles of the church and to close thus this chapter on the affiliation with the Unitarian Association.

Article I

We seek to base the union of member of our church not on the acceptance of any dogma or creed because

1. Thinking and honest men are bound to differ in their beliefs according to differenced in their intelligence and education and in the unequal progress (or lack of it) of their intellectual life.
2. The attempt of determining and imposing religious beliefs in the form of fixed dogmas has been the chief cause of the sectarian disunion of the Christian Church.
3. Jesus never made salvation dependent upon the professions of theological opinions of dogma but upon the doing of the will of God. (Matthew 7:21 and Matthew 25:34-46.) Religion was for him and is for us not essentially a matter of dogmatic belief but a Way of Life, that is to say, a matter of practical application of the highest ethical principles to all phases of real life.

Article II

We therefore see the chief method for recognizing all truth, not in the blind acceptance of traditional beliefs (sometimes erroneously called "faith") but in the conscientious and (because of its fallibility) tolerant application of human reason.

Article III

We thus desire to base the union of the members of our church primarily upon a Common Purpose. We believe this purpose to be essentially identical with the chief purpose expressed in the teachings of Jesus, namely, the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. We see two of the basic requirements for the realization of this ideal in

1. The establishment of a national and international social, economic, and political order free from selfish exploitation of any kind and in
2. The accordance of full opportunities for the development of human personality and character for all without distinction of sex, race, nationality, or social class.

Article IV

We desire to employ the following methods for the realization of the purpose named above:

1. Public worship
2. Education and instruction by sermons and lectures, teaching in the Sunday School, discussion, and by the distribution of literature.
3. Political action of our members individually, according to the dictates of each member's own intelligence and conscience.
4. Cooperation individually or as a church with other organizations pursuing the same or similar purposes.

Chapter IV

And So Today --

The church is turned around

The church today tries to induce its members to think more for themselves and not to rely upon creeds and doctrines as a statement of their beliefs. In praying the congregation calls upon itself rather than an unknown deity -- but do not mistake; the church does believe in a God. Whatever God may be is left to each individual's own ideas.

The church itself is not very large. The congregation is small, but the ideas of Unitarianism are newer than those of orthodox churches. There is always the future, and the possibilities of the future are boundless.