The history of Saint James Methodist Church can be traced back to 1822 when a Methodist minister from Kentucky found work in a cotton mill on Cypress Creek and began to hold services. By 1824 there were enough members to form a Methodist congregation calling themselves Cypress Mills Church.
During the Civil War the mills were burned to the ground and there were no services at Cypress Mills Church. In the early 1880’s all the equipment and machinery from the rebuilt mill were moved to Mountain Mills near Barton, Alabama. Most of the mill hands moved with the machinery and services continued.
In 1893 the mill was moved to Sweetwater Creek in Florence. A group of about 30 Methodists made plans to build a new church building, and a lot was purchased on Sweetwater Avenue in 1895. This was to be the location of Saint James for 92 years. Miss Emma Cherry suggested the name “St. James” because the book of St. James was her favorite book of the Bible.
On February 14, 1943, at 3:00 a.m. Saint James Methodist Church burned to the ground. The church was rebuilt that same year. In 1980, Monumental Park United Methodist Church merged with Saint James to become one congregation. In 1986 the church congregation voted to move Saint James once again. Seven acres of prime property on Cox Creek Parkway were purchased for the new church. The building was sold, and from September 1987 to March 1989 services were held in the American Legion Building, then the empty Sterchi Furniture store building on the corner of Highway 72 and Mall Road, then the empty Blevins Furniture building on North Court Street in downtown Florence, and then back to the Sterchi building. The first worship service in the new building was on March 5, 1989, and first service in the new sanctuary was on May 23, 1999.
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