File:Grace Church Centennial.jpeg

Summary

Program for the centennial celebration of Grace Church that was held in Brunswick on October 23, 2022. See the cornerstone in the middle of the page.

Grace Church, as we know it today, was originally part of All Saints Parish, Frederick, which was organized from Prince George’s Parish in 1742. In 1801, Saint Mark’s Parish was formed with Saint Mark’s, Petersville as the mother church of the parish.

By 1890, Saint Marks parish in Frederick and Washington counties included the churches of Saint Mark’s Petersville (1800), St. Luke’s Brownsville (1837), Grace Chapel Brunswick (1890) and Saint John’s Burkittsville (1896). All of these churches were served by one Rector and one assistant, who traveled on foot or by horse and buggy.

In 1890, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company established a freight reclassification yard in the Brunswick area. For many years, the Brunswick railyard was the largest in the United States and many workers and their family moved into town. The railroad company donated land for a new chapel at the corner of 2nd & A Street to meet the increasing needs of the growing population.

Grace Chapel was erected and on September 12, 1893, after the building debt was paid, was consecrated and served the parishioners until 1922, when the construction of the current edifice was completed. This new, larger church was consecrated on May 21, 1928 after its building debt was retired.

The current church building is a modified English Gothic style with exceptionally beautiful stained glass windows. Similar church buildings made from local fieldstones are common in Anglican congregations in both the United States and Great Britain.

(Program front cover courtesy of Grace Episcopal Church)