St. John's Episcopal Church

St. John's Episcopal Church. . , An Ocean Springs legend is often told that the famous architect Louis Sullivan, a mentor of Frank Lloyd Wright and winter visitor to Ocean Springs, worked with the church's "Fortnightly Guild" to develop plans for this church. In truth, the design of the Gothic Revival style building was based on the Church of the Ascension in Long Island, New York, which was designed by Manly N. Cutter, a New York architect. The design plans for St. John's were drawn by the Rev. Nelson Ayers, from illustrations in The Churchman of 1891. The plans were adopted by the church Guild in October 1891, and the church was constructed in 1892. , Until the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi approved St. John's as a parish in 1955, the church was served by rectors in Pascagoula or Biloxi. The rector of Church of the Redeemer in Biloxi became priest-in-charge in 1921 and served for thirty-four years until St. John's became a parish. 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. , In 2010, St. John's celebrated the completion of a new 11,000 square foot parish hall, at a cost of $1.8 million. The Rt. Rev. Duncan M. Gray, III dedicated and blessed the new addition in January 2010. , St. John's Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April,1987 , Photo courtesy of St John's Church, This informational sign is part of a community project led by the Historic Ocean Springs Association, and is made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area. , We thank the City of Ocean Springs for their support of this project.