This is the sixth article in a series examining the historical roots of Second Unitarian Church, celebrating our 150th anniversary.

The January Anvil article left Collyer and the Unity congregation standing in the ashes of Chicago's fire.  Their beloved church was in ruins, but the spirit with which he challenged the Unity congregants was far above the debris left by the conflagration.  So, in this last article about Robert Collyer, we join the Reverend Collyer as he sought to unite everyone in the work that needed to be done.  

Sara G. Cook, in her chapter "The Great Fire," describes the effect that the fire had on the church.  Those who had lost their homes rebuilt either in different sections of the city or in the suburbs.  Also, there was the ever present weight of the old loan.  Money was tight and didn't cover the remaining debt and the cost of constructing a new church.   In addition to everything else, Rev. Collyer needed to find money to build a new home for his own family.

To raise additional money for the rebuilding of Unity and his new home, Collyer toured the country lecturing and relating his experiences.  Collyer disliked the term "lectures"; he preferred to call them "talks".  The Chicago Tribune article* of January 27, 1872, detailed Collyer's presentation entitled "Clear Grit," which demonstrated his work ethic and his optimism for the rebirth of the city.    This presentation further illustrated how Collyer valued practicality over show as well as how he aptly interlaced his presentations with humor:  "There were too many men like Evans' engine. Evans made an engine in England, most exquisite in workmanship, and, when tried, it worked to a charm. But, when they tried to make it do something, it stood still-- it would not make a single revolution. And, as it was made in a country where to be idle was to be gentleman, the engine was christened 'Evans' gentleman engine.' (Laughter)"

Although he loved meeting the new audiences, Colyer found travel very wearing. John Haynes Holmes, in his Life and Letters of Robert Collyer, quotes many letters from Collyer to friends like Flesher Bland. In these letters, Rev. Collyer poured out his true feelings, his worries over family illnesses, how weary he felt in his travels, as well as his joys and accomplishments.

The new Unity Church by Burling and Adler was dedicated on December 7, 1873.  The Chicago Tribune article provided fantastic details about Unity's new house of worship:

"The audience-room is 70 by 80 foot, and, with the gallery, has 1,400 sittings.  The floor sinks gradually from the door to the pulpit, and the sittings, which are massive pews of black walnut, are arranged as arcs of a circle, whose centre is the pulpit, an improvement which gives the greatest possible facility in seeing and hearing.  The gallery, supported on iron columns, is amphitheatrical in form, the seats rising as they recede. . . . The choir gallery and organ are placed behind the pulpit.  The organ chamber is an additional built at the rear of the church, and opens into the main room through a large, pointed arch, elaborately ornamented with columns, having carved capitals, and from which spring a richly-molded archivolt.  The roof is open-timbered, of the hammerbeam type.  From massive stone corbels, enriched with sculpture, spring the curved braces which support the hammerbeam."

The following day's Chicago Tribune article mentioned the guest speakers and the appeal from Collyer about the remaining debt:

"The Rev. Robert Collyer next approached the desk and, assuming his most winning smile and seductive tone, made a few financial remarks, in which it was stated that the church was still several thousand dollars in debt, and that a collection would have to be taken up to help clear it off.  He said he hated collections, knowing that his people were affected by the prevailing hard times, and would not have asked for any money had not necessity and the Building Committee made him bold.  The response was very liberal."

By this time, Collyer was a name known not only by practically all Chicagoans but also in states across the nation, where he had presented his "talks."  It was no wonder that other congregations envied his leadership.  The Chicago Tribune, on October 8, 1874, reported the $10,000 year salary he was offered by the Church of the Messiah in New York.   Collyer, however, felt that his work was not yet finished in Chicago.  He believed that he was the trustee of the $50,000 that he had raised for the church.  There was more work to be done and he felt centered here.   However, he opened the possibility that if the Unitarian leadership thought he would be able to accomplish more good by leaving, he might consider.  Interestingly, he added that he would not accept the offered amount of $10,000 because he believed it would be too onerous for that congregation.  Imagine anyone turning down such an increase in pay!  But the article also held hints that Collyer was beginning to wonder about his congregation's estimation of him.  He wondered if after sixteen years, "he may be something as an old story."  Perhaps his sermons didn't accomplish as much.  His query/concern was answered loudly and clearly by the congregation: they could not envision Unity without their dear pastor.

One can read whole sermons throughout Collyer's tenure at Chicago.  His themes were hope, paying one's debts, drinking in moderation, the Bible's worth to humanity, and God's love-to name just a few.  One can deduce his eloquence and powerful use of emotion in his oratory.  He was a prominent speaker at events when celebrities were featured.  A Chicago Tribune short squib from June 2, 1878, shows Collyer's interests in the age of invention:

"Another reason, and a much stronger one, my good wife insists, is that I ought to make a change, especially if I feel I must, for my own sake.  I came to you over twenty years ago with no preparation for this ministry beyond some gift of God, I trust, and what I had won between severe tasks in the factory and at the anvil from the time I was 8 years old.  You have borne with me nobly, and taken what I could give you, and I thought and said once I would stay with you as long as I lived.  But within two or three years I have found my work grow all the time harder and more exhausting.  The demands on a minister in this city are neither light nor few.  I met them with no great trouble until within the time I have mentioned; but since then the feeling has grown on me steadily. . . . If I should stay with you, this feeling would grow as I grow older, an then the day would come when it would be sadder for us all than it can be now, because we should feel we had made a mistake and cast away an opportunity."

The following June 22, 1879, article explored the congregation's conjectures on what were the real reasons for his resignation.  The church debt would be paid off the following year and the congregation would be able to pay their minister as much as any Unitarian minister in the nation.  They could only surmise that he felt less appreciated than before.  Fewer of his sermons were being published in the newspaper.  He perhaps felt like he was losing hold on the hearts of his people.  The September 23rd Chicago Tribune noted that the Collyers were due to leave Chicago that week.  Imagine the mood of the Unity congregation.  Imagine the emotions of the Chicago citizenry in the vacuum left by this man who had been a key leader for twenty years.

On November 29, 1879, Unity announced in the Chicago Tribune that it was now free of debt.  By March 30, the congregation reported at the annual business meeting that it had paid off the bond loan of $30,000.  The pew rents were down, but the Industrial School and the Ladies Sewing School had positive reports.  The August 1st article of the Chicago Tribune described the Industrial School for Girls: