The pre-1919 history of Saint James C.M.E. Church is vague. According to their church history, the African American Methodists of Chattahoochee County initially worshiped in a “bush arbor” structure, made of sticks and brush from about 1832. After some years, they built a log cabin on land made available by a Mr. Vanhorn, who later gave them lumber to build a wooden church. In 1918 the government acquired the land (presumably for what became Ft. Benning) and the church had no place to meet other than borrowed venues until 1920, when they occupied a deserted house in Muscogee County. After that they relocated to St. Mary’s Road for a while, until they built a small wooden church on Dawson Drive. In 1959 they built a brick structure and 1961 they laid the corner stone of their building on Northstar Drive in Columbus, Georgia.