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Grace Church started in people’s homes in 1870, then moved to meeting in rental halls. The parish was consecrated into the Episcopal Church of the United States in Willoughby, Ohio in May of 1870. The members raised funds for a church building. A lot on Euclid Ave was donated in 1875, and the church was built with the proceeds of the fund raising. The church was dedicated and the cornerstone was laid in 1883. The original building still stands strong and was used in 2022 to celebrate 150 years of worship by the Parish, a sign of the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The parish population grew and needed more room. A 33-acre parcel was purchased on Johnnycake Ridge Rd in 1958. By 1963 the current church and undercroft were erected. In the early 1970’s an education wing and rectory were built.
Grace’s Inner City Day Camp started in 1965 and brought in underprivileged inner-city youth to enjoy the outdoors on Grace’s land, with activities like hiking, archery, fishing, and crafts; along with a home cooked lunch. With advertising, Grace received many donations from the community and support from surrounding parishes.
In 1980 a senior day camp was added. Seniors arrived for an snack in the afternoon. They played horseshoes, volleyball, or bocci. A campfire closed out the day with sing-a-longs after dinner.
Sadly, depleting funds and volunteers meant the camp ended in 1988.
In 1976 our Memorial Grove was consecrated. Many previous parishioners and family members cremains are interred in the Memorial Grove.
Grace Day Care opened in 1978 to help working families during the day with children beginning at 3 years old. It grew quickly and had a waiting list. The local school provided bus service to and from school for families that needed before and after school care. It was very well known in the community for its excellence. The housing crisis of 2008 eliminated many jobs. Breckenridge, once a large portion of our client base, opened their own day care. In 2012 it was no longer feasible to keep the day care open.
The altar used in the original church had been placed in storage, and was moved to the Narthex in the late 1990’s. The Narthex area was converted to a chapel which we’ve used for many small prayer and worship services.
Early in the 2000s Breckenridge Village saw a need to provide senior housing but were out of space. Since we had undeveloped land, a committee was formed to negotiate with Breckenridge. In 2008 a 99-year lease was signed to allow Breckenridge to build senior citizen apartments.
We have helped many charities and organizations over the years. The latest one to originate at Grace was our Little Feet Program, started in 2015 to give underprivileged kids in local schools a chance to accompany their parent to purchase shoes at a department store. This is completely funded by donations and Diocesan grants.
During COVID we suspended in person services for a while and replaced them with services broadcast on Facebook Live and Zoom. Our Zoom services continue to this day to serve the homebound and others who would like to join us.
While all this was happening, our Vestry went forward with plans to redo our offices and gathering spaces. The break in service during COVID gave us time to complete a full redo of our upstairs space.