Our Roots |
Holladay United Church of Christ (HUCC) was founded in 1953 as Holladay Community Church by a small group of men and women looking for their own faith community. Many are still members! At the time, Holladay was the only Protestant Church south of 2100 South in the Salt Lake Valley. We are nestled in trees near the base of Mount Olympus. In 1957, we became a United Church of Christ congregation.
The Beginnings as Told by Billie SkinnerWell this church didn’t exist until a group of us formed this church. I was a young mother who didn’t drive and the only Protestant church was downtown. Interest in a Protestant church had been expressed by Protestants living south of 2700 South. When the Philips Congregational Church uptown was closed they pledged the money from the sale of that property to be used to build a new Congregational Church further south. At first we met in Holladay Theater which was just South of Meier’s Market and then we met in the basement of the Silver’s Mercantile store which was on the corner of Murray Holladay and Holladay Blvd. We hung sheets between classrooms and turned an old table upside down for the podium. The search committee began the process of calling a minister. They chose S. Macon Coules. The building committee bought the property for the church that included an adobe house with a garage. We began service there and put the youth in the garage. Soon after Smiley Roark brought his company’s diggers and dug the hole-the beginning of our church. We were so happy to get into this new building that we moved in before there was any heat except Salamanders which burned oil-that odor kept one awake. When the church began it was called Holladay Community Church. |
