The church was constructed from 1902 to 1903 following the merger of Floyd Street Methodist Church and Haskell Avenue Methodist Church, both of which were founded in the late 1800s to serve the city’s elite. W.A. Cann, a leading church architect from St. Louis, designed the church with a spire and tower that made it the tallest building in Dallas at the time of construction. In 1925, the congregation commissioned notable Texas architect T.J. Galbraith to design a new education building and expand the sanctuary. As the neighborhood changed in the latter half of the 20th century, Grace UMC committed to reflecting the diverse neighborhood in its worship and outreach.

Grace UMC incubated several mission-related programs that have grown into full-fledged nonprofits, including the Agape Clinic and Open Door Preschool. The Agape Clinic has expanded into an adjacent building, where it provides immunizations, treatment for chronic and short-term illness, and dental and specialty care for close to 17,000 patients a year. The Open Door Preschool, housed in the church’s basement, prepares non-English speaking students for public school. The congregation also supports various youth programs, a bi-monthly legal clinic, and a neo-monastic community that ministers to people facing housing insecurity.

A National Fund grant of $100,000 with over $200,000 in matching funds raised by the congregation allowed Grace UMC to complete critical repairs. These repairs, which constituted phase six of a project that began in 1992, included installing a new waterproofing system, repointing select exterior masonry, weather-stripping tower windows, replacing the tower floor, and fixing the attic framing. Congregants reflected that this work increased their feelings of security, noting that the repairs will allow the community “to continue to gather safely and reverently in this sacred space.”