In 1873, Reverend Richard James began working to build the first St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Augustine where the Willie Galimore Center is located today.

The congregation worshiped there until 1888 when they were offered a lot to build a larger church on School Street in the Lincolnville neighborhood to accommodate the growing membership. Members attended services on St. Francis Street from 1903 until January 1904 when William and Frances van Dyke purchased a lot and two-story frame building on St. Benedict Street for $1,000, one block from Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

Reverend E.F. Williams was assigned to the church and is remembered as the architect and builder of St. Paul AME Church, awakening a new hope in the hearts of the congregation. He served the congregation for four and a half years, leaving behind a beautiful brick-veneered church.

The church has been a hub for community activities and played a major role during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, Ralph Abernathy, Jackie Robinson, and other civil rights leaders met with participants and encouraged them from St. Paul’s pulpit.