History

In 1865, a missionary minded group of parishioners of Christ Episcopal Church started a Sunday School in what we now know as South Park. It was the first outreach effort of the downtown church and that effort was destined to become the parish now known as St. Andrew's. The original meetings were held in a rented house of the present grounds of Miami Valley Hospital. The promising start blossomed and in 1868, a small brick church was built and given the name of Ascension Chapel. By 1889 the mission chapel was successful enough that the Bishop was petitioned for a change of status from mission to parish and for a change of name to St. Andrew's. More change came as the city condemned half the church property for a widening of the street and membership growth made possible the construction of a new and large church at the corner of Buckeye and Pulaski Streets.

This building was dedicated in 1910 and enjoyed for a brief few years before the 1913 flood inflicted considerable damage on the church and the neighborhood. Extensive discussions finally concluded that a move to the higher ground of Dayton View would be wise and in 1923 the present St. Andrew's was built on Salem Ave. in what was then the edge of the city. "Few houses in the vicinity and beautiful hiking trails just a short distance away." Obviously the city grew as did St. Andrew's necessitating an expansion in the 1950's. Today, shaded by the now large trees on its grounds, the "little church on the hill" as St. Andrew's became known, looks forward to being part of the vitality and change of the community as it has for the past 140+ years.