II. THE REVOLVING DOOR [1855-1870]
The Rev. John Murray, a Scot, was called to succeed Mr. Winsor. Soon after his arrival, the new building at South Church and Chestnut Streets was completed. It was dedicated on April 18, 1855, and Mr. Murray was Ordained that night. The Sunday School was organized two weeks later, with a membership of 25. For unspecified reasons, Murray resigned the pulpit two years later. He made arrangements for The Rev. Augustus Conant, the Unitarian minister in Geneva, Illinois, a minister well known to the Rockford congregation, to fill the pulpit as a guest at the end of May.

Rev. Augustus Conant

On June 11th, a call was sent to Mr. Conant to become the minister of the Rockford Church. Having taken a strong position against slavery, he was in some trouble in the Geneva Church, and accepted the call. The great Unitarian minister, Robert Collyer, wrote of Conant, He was as quick to leap to the appeal of a crippled cobbler and as strong to save him, as if the Master had come out of heaven to bid him to do it, and had told him he should have for his deed an endless renown, and the praises of all the choirs of heaven. Because of his acquaintance with distinguished Unitarians throughout the East, several noted speakers came to Rockford. The church thrived for a time, but a serious decline began, possibly due in part to the Civil War. When the church ran short of funds to pay him, possibly due to his controversial positions, Mr. Conant resigned in July of 1861, enlisted in the Illinois Infantry and died of over-exertion on February 8, 1863, while serving as a chaplain.

The Rev. Fred May Holland served as minister to the Rockford Unitarians from January 1863 through December of that year. Things went well early in the year, but by its end he resigned, in part because of the congregation s great fondness for scandal and gossip. His chief regret is not having attacked the latter failing. He commends it to his successor. It is also noted that there was a significant split between the congregation s liberal and conservative members.

Holland s successor was The Rev. William G. Nowell who served from April, 1864 through June, 1865. While there was much enthusiasm about his ministry - he complained about not being paid enough to be able to provide a home for his wife - they were forced to stay with members of the congregation. He received a letter from the Board of Trustees in March informing him that they could not continue to pay him after April 15th. That was negotiated to a July termination. He engaged in pulpit exchanges with several Universalist ministers prior to his departure, and the congregation extended a call to The Rev. Daniel Reed, a Universalist from Dubuque.

Mr. Reed was an experienced minister. He was offered a salary double of that paid to Nowell, and they raised it! At his request, the name was changed to The United Unitarian and Universalist Church to reflect his tradition and that of some of its members. The church did very well under his leadership and the congregation was shocked and dismayed when he resigned as minister because of ill health in January of 1870. Strangely, records show that he lived here for several more years. The congregation, although perhaps at its peak, had no minister.