Grace Episcopal Cathedral San Francisco 10 Editorial Photo

The famous Grace Cathedral in San Francisco has a very fascinating history, going back to the Gold Rush of 1849.Starting out in just a short term building while a permanent building for the early Grace Church was being built, the congregation was growing. Members would include such prominent people as William Crocker the banker and Leland Stanford, the 8th Governor of California. During this period also, there were temporary rectors, one of which was James Smith Bush, the Great Grandfather of George H. W. Bush, the former President of The United States. When the 1906 Earthquake hit, causing major damage throughout San Francisco, which included Grace Cathedral and Crockers own mansion. Due to this series of events, Crocker donated what remained of his mansion, the whole one square block of land which he owned, to the church. This present building was completed in 1964, and to help celebrate, on 28 March 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon here. This was the single largest service at the Cathedral, until the September 11, 2001 memorial service.As seen 7 December 2022.