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.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Marker data: Michigan History Center
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