[2] The congregation first assembled in 1852, when local Episcopalians held worship services on the second floor of a general merchandise store at 4th and Market Streets.

[1][5] Its design, which features a prominent bell tower,[5] was modeled after a "typical English village church".

[4] Architectural historian Ron Ramsay has described the church exterior as having Georgian elements, while the interior is "much more Gothic and much more Victorian".

[1] Since 1996, St. Paul's has housed a homeless shelter for women and children in the undercroft of its building, operated in collaboration with the Chattanooga Community Kitchen.

[6] St. Paul's parishioners are also participants in a cooperative project that operates a men's shelter in the undercroft of the main building of the nearby Second Presbyterian Church.