St. John’s Episcopal Church was built in 1892. The architectural style is High Victorian Gothic with Queen Anne and 16 Style elements. It is probably the finest church of that style entirely of wood construction in Mississippi. The church was originally organized as St. Paul’s in 1856, and the name was changed to St. John’s Episcopal Church in 1877.
Legend says that the famous architect Louis Sullivan, the teacher of Frank Lloyd Wright and a winter visitor to Ocean Springs, worked with the church’s “Fortnightly Guild” to develop building plans for the church. St. John’s is actually a simplification of a design by Manly N. Cutter, a New York architect, for the Church of the Ascension in Rockville Center, Long Island, which was published in the July 11, 1891, issue of The Churchman. Actual plans were drawn and adopted by the guild on October 11, 1891. The present owner is the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.
Fun Facts: Because there was no highway bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs, and because the trip around through D’Iberville was much too long, the priest-in-charge often walked across the bay on the railroad bridge to hold one service each Sunday.
Address: 705 Rayburn Avenue
City: Ocean Springs
County: Jackson
Phone: 228.875.4454
Website: http://stjohnsoceansprings.dioms.org/About%20Us/history.html
Email: stjohnsosms@cableone.net
Accessibility: accessible ramps; accessible bathrooms