History of Grace

Grace Episcopal Church was born out of the words of the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith who in 1834 said that he had visited a number of locations in the sparsely settled western portion of Kentucky, “where as yet we have comparitively few friends…a place a missionary would find a wide and most promising field opening before him.” Interent continued until 1846 when the Rev. Nathaniel Newlin Cowgill came to Paducah and started organizing a parish.

For some of the very early years, services were held in the house of Adam Rankin and then in the McCracken County Court House. On March 27, 1850, a lot was purchased in the block of Second Street between Washington and Clark Streets. On April 27, 1851, the first Grace Episcopal Church was consecrated. The onset of the Civil War brought many challenges. Federal troops used the church as a hospital. A colorful consequence of having the floor space of the church taken up by injured men was that the church benches were put out on the lawn, and the army mules sharpened their teeth on them. The rectory became quarters for the doctors and nurses.
After the war, “the dilapidated building was returned to the congregation, now a scattered remnant…women were decorating the neglected interior with a profusion of apple and cherry blossoms for the first Easter service in three years when the clatter of hoofs and the arrival of soldiers stopped them. They were told that President Lincoln had been assassinated and black draperies would have to be substituted. Whereupon trembling hands laid crepe over the gay colors.”

Finally relieved of much of the trauma of the Civil War, the nation in the late 1860′s began rushing forward. Paducah was growing fast and exhibiting some of the themes of industrial growth, urban change, and soaring technology that would characterise the United States as whole in the century to come. The American people had probably never before displayed more vigor and greater confidence in themselves and the future of their country. The Vestry of Grace Church displayed their confidence and exhilaration for growth by purchasing a site for a new and larger church building, on the lot where the main structure now stands in the 800 block of Broadway and Kentucky Ave.

In 1869 the new rector became the Rev. William Montrose Pettis, a man who parishioners of the time said made several trips to larger cities “begging money for the new church”. The new sanctuary plans were drawn by the architect Henry Martyn Congdon, who worked in the style of Gothic Revival. On April 26, 1873, the cornerstone for the new church was laid. By mid-summer of the same year, a cholera epidemic had slowed progress on the new building tremendously. On June 21, 1874, enough work had been done to permit the first services to be held in the new church. Miss Harriet Bowell notes that it was a “noble building planned to seat more than 600, without tower and without porch…with old pews still bearing the marks of the army mules’ teeth, no planter on the walls, no ceiling overhead, no glass in the windows…and $11,000 in debt.

The early years of the new century were times when the United States had entered into a period of hectic change with problems arising from industrialization of the nation which faced the country as it struggled to catch up to modern times. At Grace Church these years were overseen by Rev. Clinton S. Quin. During his years, a new organ, lectern and pulpit were acquired, and an addition to the parish house was undertaken.

The 1937 Paducah Flood

The early years of the “roaring twenties” were booming economic times. This was the most spectacular economic boom the country had ever seen. Mirroring these times and under the leadership of Rev. Fletcher, the people of Grace Church paid off their indebtedness for the sanctuary, bought additional property east of the church, bought a new rectory, and carried out an extensive renovation of the entire church property after the flood of 1937. The latter was necessary because eight feet of water stood in the sanctuary for 21 days, and there was extensive damage to pews, plaster and woodwork, and the organ was a total loss.

The Rev. Mike Freeman, who was a curate of Grace Church, was called as rector in March 1967. During his tenure, the church acquired the old Carnegie Library property, which is now the west lawn. The church sponsored group called the Graceful Gardeners was formed to maintain and beautify a small garden area on this lawn. Also, a new Allen organ was purchased in 1973, which is the same year in which a Centennial Celebration service was conducted, celebrating 100 years.

A succession of rectors came in the 1980s. Under the direction of Revs. Perry Burton, Timus G. Taylor and Dr. Joseph Trigg, strategies were developed to construct a classroom/parish hall addition. It became an “I” shaped addition to the east side of the building around and existing courtyard and east lawn. There are three floors encompassing a basement, classrooms, restrooms, a large parish hall, a kitchen and storage facilities. The plans were developed to carry through the Gothic Revival style of the original building. This project was completed in 1985.

The symbol for Grace Church, which is depicted on one of the Moravian tiles found in the sanctuary, is a “tree of life” surrounded by a “leaf form”. This reminds us that each leaf is a part of the whole tree. The church and its people are continuously offering and reciving grace to and from each other. Our faith being as branches that reach out to each other. As our motto says: Grounded in Faith, Growing in Grace.