Program

Michigan History Center

Subject

Building, Religion

Location

24808 E River Rd, Grosse Ile Township, MI 48138, USA

Lat/Long

42.12701, -83.141618

Grant Recipient

Michigan History Center

ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Elizabeth (Lisette) Denison Forth, a self-liberated former slave, willed her life savings to build this 1867 Gothic chapel, which was the main church for eighty years. Her employer, William S. Biddle, and his brother James matched her gift. English-trained architect Gordon W. Lloyd of Detroit, who summered on Grosse Ile, designed the chapel. The first rector was the Reverend Moses H. Hunter. James Biddle built an altar cross, a minister’s kneeling bench, and a reading stand for the first services, held in 1868.