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Overview

Erected and opened in 1856, this was the first church built and dedicated in Sacramento, CA. The Swedish-born architect Augustus F. Eisen (1824-1873) designed Grace Church in early 1856 for Reverend W.H. Hill, who remained with this parish from 1856 until 1870. Hill's first sermon at Grace church was on 09/07/1856.

Eisen's Grace Church #1 operated until 03/1871, but became unusable after its foundations sank. A new church, nearby to the existing one, had its cornerstone laid on 04/18/1871 by Bishop William IngrahamKipp. Financial troubles befell the Grace congregation following the decision to borrow to build a new church after 1871. Some of its wealthiest parishioners relocated in 1874 and it had difficulty recruiting a new pastor. It fell behind on its mortgage payments and fell into bankruptcy by 1877. Grace Church was forced to sell its property and furnishings and went defunct by 1877. Leaders of the old Grace congregation bought back the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church #2 from the Odd Fellows' Bank and reorganized it as Saint Paul's Church on 03/23/1877. (See William Ladd Willis, Chapter XXXI, "The Churches," History of Sacramento County, California: With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early days to the Present, [Los Angeles, Cal., Historic Record Company, 1913], pp. 291-294.)

PCAD id: 20567