Grace Episcopal Church is one of the oldest churches in Holland. In the years just after the Civil War, the Episcopal diocese in Detroit considered the Lakeshore area in the west a missionary district. A priest came over from Ionia one Sunday in August 1866 to conduct two services and baptize 11 persons.
Later, the rector of the church in Grand Haven held occasional services in the home of a community leader, Manly D. Howard, and in the fall of 1867 the group decided to formally organize as a parish. The Rev. J. Rice Taylor, with the title Missionary Rector, added not only Holland but also Saugatuck to his duties in Grand Haven.