Originally called St. Stephen's when it was organized in 1858, the first church of this Episcopal congregation was completed in 1860. That building stood on land donated by Dr. John Shelby. Later the church's name was changed to St. Ann's. In 1879, a lot was purchased on Woodland Street for the construction of a new church.
The 1882 Victorian Gothic building that served this congregation until 1998 featured a Tiffany window in the front door. During a massive fire that swept through East Nashville in 1917, St. Ann's was saved by the vigilance of its faithful sexton of more than sixty years, Julius Campbell, who climbed to the roof and fought the oncoming blaze with brooms and buckets of water. Unfortunately, the tornado of 1998 destroyed the building. St. Ann's now worships in a restored 1902 building, and the original 1882 foundation now serves as a prayer labyrinth, a visual and symbolic connection to its past.
Source: Mayme Hart Johnson, A Treasury of Tennessee Churches (Brentwood: J M Productions, Inc., 1986), p. 84.
Photo Credit: Archival photo courtesy of St. Ann's Episcopal Church
The church was organized in 1859, but the construction of the first church building was interrupted by the Civil War, and the present day building was not completed until 1892. Terra cotta decorations adorn the red brick exterior. The original chandeliers and the carillon chimes, which were installed in 1897 and used in the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, still adorn the interior. The church survived a fire in 1916 that devastated a large portion of East Nashville and also survived a tornado in 1933 that destroyed other buildings in the area. The building suffered severe damage in the 1998 tornado, but has since been restored.
Source: Mayme Hart Johnson, A Treasury of Tennessee Churches (Brentwood: J M Productions, Inc., 1986), p. 93.
