(Submitted by shirl)Grace Church-on-the-Hill  

Grace Church, the 15th Anglican Church in the City of Toronto, was established on September 17, 1874. Initially, services were held in a small rented frame building on Elizabeth Street until the original church was built on the south side of Elm Street between Bay and Elizabeth. The corner stone was laid in 1875, and the church formally opened on January 2, 1876.

Over time, as hospitals, armories, factories and office buildings occupied the area surrounding the church, and very few members of the congregation lived within the parish boundaries, it was decided that the church should relocate to a new site. After much deliberation in 1911, property in the Hill District, or College Heights as it was originally called, on the northwest corner of Russell Hill Road and Lonsdale Road, was purchased from Lawrence Baldwin. In early December, 1911 the first services were held in Grace Church in the old frame building of Christ Church, Deer Park, which had been purchased for $300 and pulled by horses along Lonsdale from Yonge Street to Russell Hill. The organ, alter, font and pulpit were transferred from Elm Street. The same font now occupies a prominent spot just inside the main doors of the church and is used regularly for all baptisms.

The turning of the first sod for the building of a church and rectory, designed by Eden Smith, took place in May. 1912. His Royal Highness, the Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, officiated at the ceremony. The silver spade that he used to turn the sod is among the treasures held in the parish archives. On December 7, 1912 the corner stone was laid, together with the corner stone of Grace Church, Elm Street and other memorabilia of the time. Here is the corner stone for Grace Church at its current site.

(See Larger Map of Grace Church-on-the-Hill)

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