St. John's is an Anglican church at the south-east corner of the City of Adelaide dating from 1841. The first building was demolished in 1886 and its replacement opened in 1887. The first church In 1840 the first Anglican church building, Trinity Church, was erected on North Terrace, Adelaide, but soon demands arose for a second place of worship to cater for members in and around Unley and the foothills, and to that end Osmond Gilles donated to the Church Building Society of South Australia half an acre of his section 581 on Halifax Street near the corner of East Terrace and South Terrace. The location could not have been much further from Trinity Church without leaving the city square, and between the two was little more than rough scrub and tracks that became a quagmire in winter. For many years after its establishment it was known colloquially as "St John's in the Wilderness". On 19 October 1839 the foundation stone was laid by Governor Gawler The foundations had been laid using £540 that had been collected in Adelaide, then for over a year little progress was made due to a shortage of funds. Generous friends in England raised some more and the church, which seated around 300, was erected for around £2,100. The first service was held on 24 October 1841, conducted by the Reverend James Farrell and the Colonial Chaplain Charles Beaumont Howard. The parsonage was a Manning prefabricated cottage brought out by Gilles as his first residence, dubbed "Hexagon Cottage", which sported a brass door-knocker. Farrell inherited the title of Colonial Chaplain, meaning he had to take over Trinity Church and in December 1843 closed the doors of St John's for services, weddings and baptisms excepted, until a replacement could be found. That man was the Reverend William Woodstock, who came out on the barque Emu with the Rev. James Pollitt (both reputed Puseyites), and took his first service at St John's on 17 May 1846. In 1848 an organ, built by Samuel Marshall, was installed. In May 1849 Woodcock transferred to the newly completed Christ Church, North Adelaide and Matthew Hale, Archdeacon of Adelaide, took over St John's. Hale was followed by a succession of priests, none of whom succeeded in generating much interest, and only one (the Reverend Denzil Ibbetson) stayed for any length of time. The church was lit by gas in 1869. The