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Letter from our Rector History of Grace Photos The Episcopal Church |
 A Brief History Established as a mission in 1889 to minister to workers and their families from the nearby textile mills, foundries, and blast furnaces, Grace Episcopal Church has served a diverse community in Woodlawn and the Birmingham area for over 113 years. The first Grace parish purchased a lot in 1890 from Obadiah Wood, the neighborhood's namesake, and erected a wood frame church on the same corner where the current building stands. The present building was dedicated debt-free in 1927. A parish house was added in 1959, and Henckell Hall was built in 1974, providing office space, a nursery, library, and meeting rooms. Since the 1970s, Woodlawn has evolved from a neighborhood of white factory workers, craftsmen, and shopkeepers to a predominantly black and Hispanic community with many low-income families and homeless people. Grace Church has responded to this change. The program that would become Community Kitchens opened in the Grace Parish Hall in 1982 and serves meals seven days a week. The Interfaith Hospitality House, a shelter for homeless families, began operation in 1983. Each year the parish provides material and financial assistance to those in need. In 1985 Grace was designated a Jubilee Center by the diocese and the national church for its work "as a congregation engaged in mission and ministry among and with the poor and oppressed." For more than a century, Grace Church has embraced and served its community. To continue to do so is the Parish's mission and challenge for years to come. |
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