The St. Elmo Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was begun by The Rev. W. J. Drinnon in 1883. A religion class was held in the area of Crossroads where Valley Road crossed the Wauhatchie Pike. As this class grew, Colonel A. M. Johnson gave a plot of land and contributions for a building. Col. Johnson was the founding father of St. Elmo and a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The Methodist Episcopal Church thus became the first organised church in St. Elmo. In 1885, The Rev. T. C. Schular was appointed to oversee the group and a buidling was begun. The building was then located at the intersection of Georgia and 2nd (which is now St. Elmo and 42nd Street). It was completed in 1887. In that year, Dr. W. S. Neighbors was appointed to the church and he received 61 people into the membership.

By 1893, the Woman’s Home Missionary Society decided it was time to provide a parsonage for the church. They purchased 33 feet of land adjoining the original gift from Col. Johnson and completed the home in 1897. The home has later replaced by the current brick structure built by the local Masonic Lodge.

By the turn of the century, the Methodist Episcopal Church was outgrowing its building. On 24 February, 1920, a building committee was formed. A lot at 47th and St. Elmo Avenue was acquired and the building was completed in 1921 under the pastorate of the Rev. J. A. Bays. Bishop Warren A. Candler laid the cornerstone on August 7, 1921. When the new building was ready for use, the congregation “marched down St. Elmo Avenue singing all the way.” This newer structure is now used by the United Methodist Church. The older building passed into the ownership of the F. & A. M. Lodge.

In 1942, the Seventh Day Adventists established a medical facility in Wildwood. Volunteers began to come to St. Elmo to help people. In 1944, W. D. Frazee began a series of meetings at what was at that time the Incline Chapel. In 1945, the group meeting in this Chapel bought a home at 4015 St. Elmo Avenue for regular church services. Here they met for over twenty years. In the 1970’s, this group sold their house and purchased the current building at 42nd Street.

We of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church are pleased that, in God’s providence, we are able to restore Episcopal-style worship to this historic structure. Consideration is being given to the rennovation and updating of the building.
Note: 31 March, 2006 - The foryer and sanctuary floors have been redone.