The history of the Unitarian congregation in Virginia also goes back to 1911. Services were at first held at the temperance society hall, but soon a church of their own was procured, at a time when its membership was 26; in 1937 it was 142. When the church was available, a Women's Alliance, a Young People's Union, and a Sunday school were also established. Risto Lappala served as minister until his death in 1923, after which time his widow Milma assumed the responsibilities. The Siirtokansan Kalenteri reported that of the 370 ministers serving the Unitarians in America, only six had to officiate at more funerals per year than did Milma Lappala. In his study, Jokinen has considered this growth of Unitarianism among the Finns significant because it gathered within its fold many of the more radical thinkers who could not have accepted any other church affiliation for their own.

The Virginia Workers' Society: The Finnish labor movement has always had a strong foothold in Virginia. Palm has related that as early as 1902 a haphazard group known as the `Finn Boys' (Suomen Pojat) was started: they met at the home of a storekeeper "to discuss theosophic-utopian ideas, and to formulate their conception of the workers' movement." The writings of Pekka Ervast served as the basis of discussion, but with economicmaterialistic concepts added. This has been confirmed by Martin Hendrickson in his Muistelmia kymmenvuotisesta raivaustyöstäni (Memoirs of My Ten Years of Pioneering.) In 1904 a formal society was established, and in 1905, through its membership in the Minnesota state organization, it became affiliated with the Socialist Party of America. The Minnesota state organization, incidentally, was made up principally of Finnish workers' societies, and among the iron range chapters, for example, monthly regional meetings used to be held. The following year, when the Finnish socialist organization was begun, and a central office established, the Virginia group joined it. In his history of the workers' movement, Sulkanen has mentioned the following men as the initiators of the organization : John Koski, Emil Laukka, Albert Mainio, Siimon Mäki, John Sairio and Axel Ohrn, names which Sulkanen has gleaned from Hendrickson's memoirs. To this list Pastor Risto Lappala, in an article in the Päivälehti in February 1914 added the names of John Flander and Kalle Pitkänen.

During the first year of the society's existence, several auxiliary organizations were begun, in order to get an active program underway. In August 1905 Virginia was host to the first annual summer festival of the workers' and socialist groups of the mining

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