‘In 1867 the parish entered upon the work of building a new church, and the sum of fifteen thousand dollars was subscribed for the purpose; but subsequently the undertaking was assumed by the family of the late Gorham Brooks, Esq. The amount subscribed by the parish was placed in the hands of the Trustees of Donations as a permanent fund. The corner stone of the church was laid September 17, 1867, by the Rev. Mr. Learoyd, when an address was delivered by the Rev. Henry C. Potter, D. D., the present bishop of New York. Beneath the stone was deposited a box containing a silver plate, with this inscription: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.” The corner stone of this building is laid the seventeenth of September, 1867, by the Parish of Grace Church, Medford, organized the eighteenth of February, 1848. Then followed the names of the bishops of the diocese, the rector of the parish, the officers, building committee and architect. The church was erected under the supervision of John T. Tarbell, Francis A. Gray, Dudley C. Hall, Shepherd Brooks and the rector as a building committee. The parish took possession of the new stone church on Advent Sunday, 1868.’
Mr. Learoyd resigned his rectorship at Easter, 1872, and became rector of St. Thomas Church, Taunton. He was elected treasurer of the diocese of Massachusetts in 1873, which office he now (1901) holds. He resigned from St. Thomas Parish in July, 1895, and accepted the rectorship of Emmanuel Church, Wakefield, January 15, 1896.
On the fifteenth of September, 1872, the Rev. Charles Lewis Hutchins entered upon the rectorship of the parish. Mr. Hutchins was born in Corcord, New Hampshire, in 1838, of George and Sarah Rolfe Tucker Hutchins. His great-grandfather, Gordon Hutchins, fought as a captain with the Continental troops at Bunker Hill, and was afterward breveted colonel. Mr. Hutchins graduated from Williams College in 1861,
