Historical Note

After the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Virginia and the closing of the parish church in Fincastle, Virginia in 1784, a small group of faithful Episcopalians continued to worship in homes. Eventually, this led to the sharing of the Presbyterian Brick Church near Tinker Creek around 1825. In 1849, the Episcopalians built a small church in the village of Gainsborough, which became St. John's Episcopal Church. The Parish next built a small Gothic church on Commerce Street in downtown Big Lick and shared a rector with St. Paul's in nearby Salem, Virginia.

With the coming of the railroad, Big Lick became Roanoke. The population of the city as well as the number of communicants at St. John's soared. The parish of 200 members then built a 600-seat church in a "remote, barely developed residential area" on the corner of Jefferson and Elm where services began in December of 1892. The building, now designated a historic landmark, has expanded twice over the past 116 years to better serve our parish, which now numbers 1500 communicants.

Citation:

http://stjohnsroanoke.dioswva.org/our_church/index.html onRequest

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