"Richard M. Upjohn, the son of Richard and Elizabeth Upjohn, was born in Shaftesbury, England, and brought by his parents to the United States when he was two years old. Educated in New York City, mainly in private schools, young Richard entered his father's office at the age of 18. After serving as a draftsman until 1851, he joined the elder architect in partnership under the firm name of Upjohn & Company and was closely associated with his father on practically all the firm's major works, particularly in the period between 1860 and 1876. Among the churches with which he is identified are Madison Square Presbyterian Church in New York; Trinity Church in Princeton, New Jersey; Grace Church in Newark, New Jersey; St. Peter's in Geneva, New York; and Central Congregational Church in Boston.

"After his father's death in 1878, Upjohn practiced independently in New York. Although his work was not preeminently ecclesiastical, he designed a number of churches of note, including St. Paul's Cathedral in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston, Alabama; DeLancey Memorial Church in Geneva, New York; and the American Church of St. John in Dresden, Germany, considered one of his outstanding achievements in ecclesiastical design. He was more widely known as the architect of the Connecticut State Capitol at Hartford."