History
The parish of St. Andrew’s in Norfolk was founded in 1911. The church’s first building was a small wood-frame chapel, which was
built on the present site of the church. The first rector was the Rev. Myron Marshall. The first service in the new chapel was Advent
Sunday, December 3, 1911. The church grew quickly. By the end of 1912 there were more than 100 families.
The current church building was constructed in 1921. It was designed by the noted architect John Kevan Peebles. The cornerstone was laid
June 30, 1921. The wooden chapel was moved to a corner of the lot, where it continued to serve as a parish house until it burned in 1943.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, St. Andrew’s was briefly merged with two other Ghent-area Episcopal parishes, Christ’s Church and St. Luke’s Church, the latter of which had just lost its building to fire. Between 1935 and 1940, the three functioned as a single unified parish, but retaining their separate buildings. The merger was dissolved in 1940, and St. Andrew’s was reestablished as an independent parish, while Christ’s and St. Luke’s remained together.
The original structure was expanded with the addition of a two-story brick parish house (containing the present-day auditorium, church offices and
classrooms) in 1948. The narthex was added to the Graydon Ave entrance in 1959. White Hall (Social Hall) was built in 1968.
The Rev. Charles Austin Joy, who retired on September 30, 2007 was only the fifth rector of St. Andrew’s. The average tenure for rectors in the parish since its founding in 1911 is nearly 20 years, far exceeding the average for the Episcopal Church in North America.
In July 2009 The Rev. John D. Rohrs from Christ Church, Raleigh, North Carolina was called as the sixth rector of St. Andrew's. Rev. Rohrs first official Sunday was on Sunday, September 13, 2009.