A Brief Parish History, continued

Thirteen years later, in 1887, the building that was to become the second chapel for Grace Church, Port Lavaca, was located on the southeast corner of South Guadalupe and Leona Streets. The history of this building indicates that it was moved from Indianola in that year and was placed on barrel-shaped blocks of cement. A ship carrying barrels of cement bound for the Indianola port was sunk in a storm in 1875. The cement hardened in the shape of the barrels and later washed up on the beach. These were collected and used as the foundation for the church building. After wind damage in the storm of 1942, pilasters were added to strengthen the church walls. A hurricane in 1945 completely destroyed the building. 

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A third edifice for Grace Church, Port Lavaca, was completed in 1949 on property located at the northeast corner of South Guadalupe and Austin Streets. Completed under the direction of the Reverend Dr. C.T. Branch, Rector, the building was dedicated on February 6, 1949 by the Right Reverend Everett H. Jones, Bishop of West Texas. It was in this building that the Reverend George H. Dettman was ordained to the priesthood on February 2, 1962. On November 24, 1963, the Right Reverend R. Earl Dicus, Suffragan Bishop of West Texas, consecrated Grace Church. 

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With the construction of a new parish hall came an addition to the church of a narthex and the connecting of the two buildings with a cloister. The Right Reverend Harold C. Gosnell, Bishop of West Texas, dedicated the new building complex on November 22, 1970. The Reverend G.R. Thayer II, a communicant of the parish, was ordained to the diaconate in this church building in June of 1971.

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