A Little piece of Paradise… College Hill, Ohio - SELFCRAFT

dollar. In 1926 the stone parish manse was built north of the church, which served until after W.W. II,when another brick parish house was built on Groesbeck Road. The church remained the same until theearly 1950’s when the sanctuary was enlarged and remodeled into the Gothic inspired facade that weknow today.Existing still is an old anonymous church history written at the turn of the century. The ministerfollowing Dr. Bishop was Rev. Andrew Benton, then Rev. Edward who resigned in 1850 to preach inSandusky. The Rev. Lorenzo Cary, cousin to the Carys on the hill, was both a professor at Farmers’College and well as church minister. In 1855 Rev. Cary received his ministerial salary of $500 plus $700for teaching at Farmers’ College. At the end of this letter is a list of congregants and what they paid, orstill owed, the church as of Jan. 13, 1853. The names are: S. F. Cary, Wm. Cary, E. G. Taylor, Geo. S.Ormsby, Alphonso Wood, D. B. Thomas, R. J. Bosworth, H. R. Strong, Josiah Grant, Sam Wilson, J.Henderson, Prof. Klemett, J. M. Walden, C. E. Harbison, John Covert, F. A. Churchhill, J. C. Jacfreys,W. A. Bagley, J. W. Caldwell, J. H. Williams, H. Gibbons, Joel Strong, Robinson Je??, Mrs. Brooks, E.DeSerresy, John Price, M(?) Huntington, Rachel Lewis, J. B. Witherby, M. M. Edwards, Andrew Benton,O. Kingsbury, Mrs. Whitside Jr., Samuel Borden, F. G. Cary, Johnathan Brook, , R. S. Bosworth, H. R.Strong, J. S. Cook, G. E. Harbison, M. Hoagland, W. G. Arnold, Mary H. Bowen.D. B. Pierson and a few other families connected with the Protestant Episcopal Church, ...havingbecome permanent residents of the hill, with commendable zeal, determined to have a church of theirown. The present neat little chapel, the parsonage adjacent, a church organization and a regular rector arethe result.The church was founded Feb. 25, 1866. Prominent members were the Caldwell, Knight, Cist,Harbeson, DeSerisy, Tweed, Avery and Doisy families. Early services of the church were held atFarmers’ College for $20 a month rent, until the first church could be built. This brick church usedtimbers from the demolished Cary’s Academy which was empty, and was torn down to clear the site forthe new building. Gifts of money from various Episcopalians throughout Cincinnati 32 assisted in thechurch’s swift construction. Completed in 1867 at a cost of $16,300, the church was used until 1916.By 1890 the church needed expensive and extensive repair. Donations and pew fees were the mansource of church revenues. The ‘envelope’ system of pledging was introduced in 1914 but it wasn’t until1928 that pew fees were completely phased out. Despite repairs and the addition of electric lights, thechurch was condemned in 1916 by the City of Cincinnati.The first rector was Rev. R. T. Kerfoot. A prominent later rector was Rev. John H. Ely who also wasthe first rector of St. Philips Episcopal church in Northside. Additionally, Ely served a congregation inHartwell at the same time.In 1917 a new parish house was built from plans by Samuel Hannaford & Sons. The firm drew plansfor both a church and parish house but because of W.W. I, building costs soared, so only the parish housewas erected.The old church was torn down in 1918 and weekly service was held at Town Hall until the parishhouse was completed in 1919. The current Gothic style church was built in 1927-28 of white IndianaBedford stone. It was dedicated by Bishop Henry W. Hobson. The rectory, which sat west of the churchon Belmont Avenue, was moved in 1957 to a site north of Aiken High school. The move down BelmontAvenue was documented by the late Rev. LeRoy Hall who gave many slides of this unusual sight to theCollege Hill Historical Society. Rev. LeRoy D. Hall was Grace’s minister from 1953 - 1966. Where theparish house stood, an educational wing was added. Rev. Hall was a founder of College Hill CommunityUrban Redevelopment Corporation which planned future development for College Hill, such as theCollege Hill Plaza, as well as rehabilitation of blighted properties.A church is more than a series of buildings and Grace Episcopal’s niche has always been service tothe community. The church women helped to fund Children’s Hospital (started in 1884 as the Hospital ofthe Protestant Episcopal Church).32 William Procter, Henry Probasco, and Robert Mitchell to name a few.88