Grace Church Suite
Enjoy the privacy of Grace Church Suite in Downtown Jonesville, 5 minutes from Hillsdale.
Founded in 1844, Grace Church was built in classical Greek and Gothic styling with original black walnut paneling and furniture still in place - with private, modern lodging accommodations in Grace Church Suite for you to enjoy!
Grace Church is one of the oldest frame churches in Michigan. The first service was held near the present site in 1836 by the Reverend William N. Lyster. The Episcopal congregation was organized in 1838; the property site purchased from George and Elizabeth Munro in 1842 for $300 (more than $9200 in today’s money); and the building cornerstone laid in August of 1844.
The building’s architecture combines Greek and Gothic elements with a Christopher Wren touch. The windows are of hand-blown glass; the rafters and beams of solid oak; the pews are black walnut; and there is considerable butternut in the ogee arch as a decorative theme on the interior as well as the exterior.
In 1849, Reverend Robert Elder reported, “Amount paid for bell weighing 1040 pounds - $350....the sites for the pews were sold for a sufficient sum to cover the whole cost of the edifice which is not far from $3000 (more than $104,000 in today's money).”
The bell tower was added to the once square structure in 1850. The original foundation cornerstone, which contains a prayer book of the period, the names of the Rector and vestry, a New York City newspaper, and other newspapers, all secured in a tin box, may yet be in position, though its exact location is unknown.
In 1948, Mr. Jack E. Warner came to Grace Church as a lay reader and became the first official resident minister since the 1880’s, when he was ordained to the Deaconate in 1956, and the Priesthood in 1961.
It was during this time that a parish hall was added to the church. This building, formerly the Johnson-Scipio schoolhouse, once stood on Concord Road. The addition to the hall – Hawkins Parish Hall – includes a bay window lounge and heated entrance ramp for the handicapped and was dedicated in 1975. It is this area of the Grace Church that was improved in the fall of 2020 and winter and spring of 2021, to create the modern accommodations known as the Grace Church Suite.
Grace Church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior for its significant place in American history and architecture.
