There is evidence that an Anglican Church existed prior to the American Revolution on a site near the present Quaker Cemetery. That church was abandoned when its minister, a Tory, fled during the Revolutionary War. Several early attempts to reorganize a church failed. However, on January 29, 1831 under the American Episcopal Church, a new parish was organized, and a building was begun on Broad Street, south of Dekalb Street.

In 1857 a Theological Seminary was established in Camden. Camden was chosen to honor The Right Rev. Thomas F. Davis, Rector of Grace Church and Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina who was the most illustrious rector in Grace's history. In 1865 a detachment of Union soldiers from Sherman's Army burned the Seminary building. It was never rebuilt.

William Porcher DuBose, soldier, philosopher, and theologian, attended Seminary in Camden prior to the Civil War. Twice wounded, reported dead, captured, and exchanged, he was ordained at Grace Church by Bishop Davis in 1863. At Sewanee, DuBose "became Sewanee's greatest teacher, greatest personality, greatest theologian" and was said to be the "wisest Anglican writer...on both sides of the Atlantic."

In May 1867, another tragedy struck the congregation when the church building burned. Following so closely the defeat of the confederacy and the devastation of war, the loss of the building was almost insurmountable. With courage and personal sacrifice, however, the present brick Gothic style building was begun in 1870. In 1871 Bishop Davis preached his last sermon and officiated at the first service in the almost completed edifice. He died six days later. The Bishop Davis Room in Richardson Hall was named in honor of him.

This first major improvements to the building were made in 1877 when the narthex and towers were added. Interior improvements have been made throughout the years. Numerous stained glass windows, the Eucharistic silver and brass of the Chancel rail, the pulpit, the credence table and the litany desk, each given as a memorial, added to the simple beauty of the church.

Other buildings have been erected on the church propery to house a growing congregation. In 1899 a frame of a Sunday school builiding was constructed on Laurens Street. This was replaced in 1932 when the Parish House containing Richardson Hall and church school rooms was built. To take care of the further expanding church, the kindergarten building and office annex were added in 1953. The last addition to the complex was Gordon Hall in 1972 which further increased the number of church school rooms.

Since 1832, twenty-three rectors have served Grace Church. The congregation has grown from 28 families with 36 communicants in 1832 to more than 295 households with more than 450 baptized members.