In June of 1825, there was a public meeting held at the court house in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where it was unanimously resolved to open a subscription list for the erection of a Presbyterian Church. This resulted in work being initiated on the first Kirk of St. James Presbyterian church in 1826 on the corner of Pownal and Fitzroy Street in Charlottetown. It took five years to build and was completed on 9 August 1831. For the six years prior to building the first Kirk, the Presbyterian congregation worshipped with the Anglican Church in Charlottetown. At the public meeting in 1825, it had also been resolved to apply to the Church of Scotland for a clergymen for the new Presbyterian church. This became a reality in 1831 with the arrival Reverend James MacIntosh, who had been sent out by the Glasgow Council Committee of the Church of Scotland. He stayed until 1836, after which there was a four year absence of a full time minister. This ended in 1840, when Reverend Angus McIntyre arrived from Scotland.

In the 1870s the congregation decided to build a new church. The corner stone for the second church, which was built in the early English Gothic style, was laid on 7 June 1877, by Reverend Kenneth MacLennan. The building was opened and dedicated on 20 October 1878. Groups active within the church throughout the years have been the Young People's Association, Ladies Aid Society, Ladies Benevolent Society, Women's Foreign missionary Society, Helping Hand Society, Willing Workers, and the Young Men's Literary Society.