Octavius Jordan was a Hartford, Conn., native whose name would soon be associated with many of Detroit's most prolific churches of the mid-19th Century. He and his brother Albert H. Jordan formed the appropriately named firm Octavius & Albert Jordan. Many of their houses of the holy still stand today, such as Fort Street Presbyterian and the Elmwood Cemetery Chapel.

Among the men working in his firm's offices was a draftsman named James Anderson, the man who would go on to design Detroit's Old City Hall.