History

On September 16, 1837, thirty-six people met in the Canal Dover schoolhouse with the Rev. J. B. Beck. Under his guidance, Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized. Two trustees were elected, who afterward met with two trustees of the German Reformed Church (later St. John’s United Church of Christ) for the purpose of purchasing a lot. In 1838 a church building was erected and used jointly. During the Civil War, Grace Church sold their interest in that building and purchased the former United Brethren Church building at 108 West Third Street. Membership had increased to fifty-five persons by this time.

On June 1, 1890, the cornerstone of a new church building was laid, including a Sunday School room, and was completed on Easter Sunday of 1891. It is this facility that is featured in a narthex window by the elevator. On September 14, 1924, the Parish (now Sunday School) Building was completed. The parsonage in back of the church building was sold, and a home facing Wooster Avenue, adjacent to the church building, was purchased. In 1944 this parsonage was torn down to make a parking lot, and a new parsonage was purchased at 1702 North Wooster Avenue. This was later sold.

In 1952 planning began for a new church building. This, our current building, was completed and dedicated in June of 1959. In 1976 the building at 216 North Wooster Avenue was purchased and in 1979 was remodeled as Luther Hall. In 1982 the Youth Hall portion of the Sunday School building was renovated, and in 1984 the narthex was redesigned. In 1995 the lower part of the Sunday School building was remodeled.

The property at 208 North Wooster was acquired in 1998 as our Outreach Center. In 1999 the Conley building and property were purchased for parking and future expansion. Currently, we have 1,868 baptized members. Strengthened by the witness of God’s past faithfulness, we confidently enter the future trusting His grace.