The Church in the Community
 
Henrico Parish was founded in 1611 as an outgrowth of the original church in Jamestown and gradually grew up the James River from that settlement. As Richmond became a trading center, the Vestry of Henrico Parish began to consider building a church in the burgeoning town. St. John’s dates almost to the beginning of the City of Richmond itself.

William Byrd II, credited with the establishment of Richmond, entered in his diary on September 19, 1733, that the city foundations had been laid.

In 1740, the Vestry of Henrico Parish approved a new church to be built on land donated by William Byrd, and the structure was completed on the present site June 10, 1741.
 
The church was known through the next few decades as the New Church, Town Church, Upper Church, and Richmond Hill Church. The earliest known reference to “St. John’s” appeared in 1829. Through the years, St. John’s served the community as a meeting place just as churches had traditionally served in England.

As tensions between Virginia and England grew in the 1770s, the assembly of the Second Virginia Convention was moved from the capital of Williamsburg to Richmond. St. John’s, the largest available public building in the City, was the site in March 1775 of the meeting attended by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and other prominent Virginians who heard Patrick Henry’s stirring words, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Today, that event brings approximately 40,000 visitors each year to St. John’s, now a National Historic Landmark. They come to tour the buildings and grounds, to attend reenactments of the famous speech, and occasionally to attend services.

The American Revolution brought freedom of religious expression, but it also ended financial support of the Anglican Church by the State. Thus began an era that would bring ups and downs to most American churches. There was a lull before 1820, but St. John’s remained a vital parish and was the church home of many respected clergy and civic leaders. By 1820, there was a full-time rector, and by mid-century, the parish was flourishing again. From post Civil War to World War II, St. John’s played a vital role in the civic life of the entire City and had a large congregation of between five and six hundred members.
 
After World War II, many people moved from urban environments to suburbs. The population base of St. John’s declined, and more and more members lived at a distance from the Church. The neighborhood, long known as “Church Hill” because of the presence of St. John’s, also began to decline. The neighborhood experienced more urban flight in the 1960s. The religious life at St. John’s survived because of loyal members who, even though they lived far from the site, still returned to their home church for services.
 
Because of its historical importance, principally as the site of Patrick Henry’s famous speech, the church building inspired the designation of a historic district, the St. John’s Old and Historic District, created by an act of Richmond City Council. The neighborhood began to stabilize and new residents were attracted to the area and to St. John’s. Many of the beautiful old homes of Church Hill have been restored. The neighborhood now has an active civic association that meets monthly in the St. John’s Parish Hall.

One of the challenges of St. John’s Church is to reach out more effectively to this dynamic neighborhood community, both as a historic site and especially as a place of worship. St. John’s seeks to regain the sense of Christian mission to a revitalizing neighborhood and to understand its historic commitment to proclaiming the gospel to all.