St. Paul AME Church was born in 1887.  The first place of worship was a small building, 20 X 36 feet, located on 18th Street on a spot known as “the Acre.”  The Virginia Annual Conference met in Norfolk, VA and accepted the mission as a member.  Designated, the Little A.M.E. Mission, it was assigned to the Portsmouth District.  The church was named “St. Paul” after Brother Jerry Haywood’s home church in Raleigh, NC.

 The Rev. S. W. Williams Jr., following in the footsteps of his father. His pastorate would be the longest in the history of the church. In the summer of 1967, the pastor and officers of Chestnut Avenue United Methodist Church approached Rev. Williams with a proposal to buy their property at 2500 Chestnut Avenue.  The Right Rev. George Wilbur Baber, the Presiding Prelate of the 2nd Episcopal District, dedicated the building March 15, 1970.

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 At the 2016 Virginia Annual Conference, St. Paul AME Church again made history.  The Rev. Dr. Oretha P. Cross was assigned as the new Pastor, making her the first female pastor in the 130-year history of the church.