Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker Detail

Description: Early Dunedin homesteader B. M. Brown and the Emerson family donated land for the construction of a church in 1876. Before it was built, John G. Andrews lost his brother William, who was killed while riding a horse during a violent storm. Andrews pledged $200 towards the church’s construction, provided that it be named Andrews Memorial Presbyterian Church in memory of his late brother. The original church site is the present location of the Dunedin Cemetery. As the Dunedin population shifted toward downtown in the late 1880s, the original church was dismantled and a new church was built on the corner of Scotland Street and Highland Avenue. Keeping the same name, the new church was designed in the Gothic style, and featured heart pine construction with a hand-carved beamed ceiling and pews. It was renamed Andrews Memorial Chapel when it moved south on Highland Avenue in 1926 to make room for a new Presbyterian church. The Dunedin Historical Society saved the chapel by relocating it to Hammock Park in 1970. During the relocation, the building was cut in half and later restored. The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and is notable as one of the oldest buildings in the area.