The building stands near the center of Sharpsville's commercial district, on the east side of a block once dominated by the magnificent 30-room Pierce Mansion. That brick Second Empire-style mansion, completed in 1875, was razed in 1952, and public housing was built in its place.
The block is completed by two dwellings in addition to the church parsonage, which stands to the north of the church. The parsonage, a two-story frame dwelling with Queen Anne features, was built in 1888. Urban renewal projects of the mid-1950s to mid-1970s replaced much of the commercial construction in the surrounding area.
The stock of neighboring 19th-century houses remains intact, including the Second-Empire 16-room frame Jonas Pierce House (1863, National Register), which stands southeast of the church. The First Universalist Church of Sharpsville is a locally important example of late Victorian architecture.
General Pierce
A native of New Hampshire, General Pierce came to the area in 1847. By the year of Pierce's death in 1874, Sharpsville was incorporated as a borough and, owing principally to his enterprises, had become a leading iron producer in the nation. Pierce, and later his sons, owned seven of the town's nine blast furnaces, as well as Sharpsville's bank, newspaper, and railway. Through the family's influence, the nucleus of a congregation was gathered in a meeting hall.
Pierce Hall, and on January 31, 1875, 28 members were formally organized as a congregation. Far from the denomination's New England center, and on the outskirts of areas populated by Universalist churches, this remained the only church of this faith in Mercer County. For over the next thirty years, the sons of James Pierce would serve as lay officials of the church. James' widow, Chloe, donated the lot for the church, and she funded "the larger part" of its construction.
Their sons financed the construction of the parsonage in 1888. Moreover, there was a close alliance with the denomination's college at Akron, Ohio, Buchtel College (now the University of Akron), founded in 1870. The Pierces endowed a professorship there, and James was one of its original trustees. The president of Buchtel, Dr. Orello Cone, preached the sermon at laying the cornerstone and dedicating the Sharpsville church.
Among local churches of the 19th century, the First Universalist's Victorian Gothic architecture is the most fully developed expression of high-style features. The style's liveliness of decoration is shown in the polychrome contrasts, brickwork and stonework, and roof cresting. The style of the era can also be read in features such as the steeply pitched hipped roof and an auditorium-style sanctuary.
