Saint John's Episcopal Church was founded in Petersburg, Virginia in 1868. The present brick edifice was begun in 1897, replacing a frame structure. The original plans did not include a steeple but the druggist across the street from the church stepped in and donated funds so that a steeple could be added. The church is of provincial Gothic design: brick and New England quarried brownstone with a distinctive Buckingham Slate roof in alternating fish scale and diamond patterns. The bell in the belfry weighs one ton. Flagstones at the front entrance were salved from the Jarratt Hotel which stood at the corner of Washington and Union streets until 1902, receiving visits from two United States' presidents, Polk and Grant, as well as other prominent figures.