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"In the Spring of 1873 a
few of the citizens of Hinsdale, Viz., Messrs. Stuart, Nottingham,
Maydwell, Chant, Slocum, Crocker, and Payne, met at the house of D. J.
Crocker to organize the Grace Episcopal Sunday School, of which Mr. J.F.
Stuart was chosen Superintendent, and which formed the foundation for the
parish which was organized March 31, 1875, under the name of Grace
Episcopal. Previous to this date Easter services had been held in the
basement of the Congregational Church [then under construction] but no
parish meeting was held until March 31, 1875, when Alfred Payne and Robert
Slocum were elected Wardens
and John
Ohls, William B.
Maydwell, and J. F. Stuart were elected Vestrymen. At the Vestry meeting
following the adjournment of the parish meeting, John Ohls was chosen
Treasurer; J.F. Stuart, Secretary; and Alfred Payne, Lay-reader. The
services of the Rev. N. F. Luson (Episcopal Rector at La Grange) were also
engaged, and for the space of one year he acted as priest- in-charge,
allowing us one service a month."
The vestry records
reflect that the petition to organize the parish was approved by Rev.
George P. Cushman, President of the Standing Commit- tee of the
Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Illinois, on March 17, 1875.
The first parish meeting
(March 31, 1875) was held in a small non- sectarian chapel (burned soon
afterward) located on Maple Street, just west of the present Unitarian
Church. Those who were present signed a petition to the Diocese of
Illinois requesting admittance of Grace Church as an organized parish.
Their names, in the order in which they appear on the petition, were as
follows:
Alfred Payne Daniel
Earns John F. Stuart Chas. Whitcomb W.B. Maydwell Thos. F. Locksmith D.J.
Crocker H.W. Chant John McAdam Thos. S. Ball S.A. Ford J. Hemshell John
Chis D.F. Denny J.H. Ford W. Dalton Robert S. Slocum Clifford A. Walker
F.W. Doolittle O.J. Stough Frederick S. Shewell John Parker G.H. Lawton W.
Frank Ritchie D.C. Mitchell
The DIOCESAN JOURNAL of
1876 makes no mention of Grace Church as a mission or as a parish. During
that year, however, Alfred Payne did make a report as lay reader: he had
read Morning and Evening Prayer, with a sermon, every Sunday during the
year except seven, when there were clerican ministrations or no service at
all. The average attendance had been twenty.
Grace Church submitted
its application for admission into the union as a parish of the Diocese of
Chicago at the forty-first Annual Convention, on May 28, 1878. The
application was accepted, and the three delegates, Alfred Payne, D. J.
Crocker, and J. H. Hubbard, took their seats. For many years the DIOCESAN
JOURNAL indicated that Grace Church had been "organized in 1878," but
eventually this error was corrected and March 31, 1875, was accepted as
marking the official organization of the parish.
After his year as
priest-in-charge at Grace Church, the Rev. Mr. Luson yielded his position
to the Rev. Wm. A. Fiske, the Episcopal minister at St. John's Church,
Naperville, who was followed on January 7, 1879, by the Rev. D. F. Smith
(who had officiated a short time here for Fr. Fiske) at a salary of $300 a
year. On April 3, 1879, during the Rev. Smith's tenure, the Rt. Rev.
William E. McLaren, Bishop of Chicago, visited Grace Church and preached
the sermon-the first visit of a bishop to the new parish. At that time the
Church membership consisted of twenty-three families and fifty-one
communicants. There were five baptisms and two marriages that year, and
the Sunday School had eight teachers and seventy- three pupils. On June 1,
1879, Grace Church officially became a parish.
When in June, 1881, the
Rev. Mr. Smith left Hinsdale after two years, the vestry secured the
services of the Rev: Messrs. Perry, F .S. DeMattos, and W.F. Lewis, while
Mr. Alfred Payne continued as lay reader whenever necessary, serving in
that capacity as late as 1883. At that time John Reed was the organist.
During these early years
church services were held in a variety of locations, while Mr. D.J.
Crocker looked for land south of the railroad tracks to build a chapel. In
November, 1874, Mr. O.J. Stough had offered the use of the Unitarian
Church "with organ" to the parish for worship free of charge for one year.
From 1876 through 1881 church services were held in. the basement of the
old Baptist Church, on the site of the parking lot at the corner of
Garfield and First Streets. I n the beginning the congregation used this
facility free of charge, contributing toward the upkeep- "new glass in the
basement windows," "a lock for the door ," "a new stove pipe" - but
by 1881 they were paying rent. On January 11, 1882, they rented Roth's
Hall and two adjacent rooms upstairs in a commercial building on the
southeast corner of Washington and Hinsdale Avenue, paying a monthly
rental of five dollars. All vestry meetings were held in the homes of
members.
The vestry minutes for a
meeting held on October 6, 1879, illustrate the
proceedings of those
early days: "At the regular quarterly meeting of the vestry of Grace
Church Parish, Hinsdale, III., convened this sixth day of October A.D.
1879, at the residence of the Rector [actually the Rev. Mr. Smith was the
priest-in-charge rather than the rector] there were present the Rev. D.P.
Smith, Mr. Chas. Maydwell, Mr. John Ohls and J.F. Stuart.
"On
motion the records
of the last vestry meeting Viz: July 7th, 1879, were read and approved.
The Treasurer reported that he had purchased locks, keys and bolts for the
church building as directed.
"On motion the Treasurer
was authorized to have the stovepipe in the church taken down, cleared,
riveted and replaced in proper shape for use.
"On motion the meeting
adjourned." So began Grace Church -the result of the efforts of a few
dedicated individuals in a new struggling village.
Gradually, through test, trial, and experiment, our church mastered these
early problems.
To see Old B&W Photos of Grace Church, click
here
The Past Rectors of Grace Church, click
here
For a more detailed history see the "Limited
Edition, Grace Church Hinsdale, 1875-1975, Published in March 1975" |
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