The Epiphany Church was originally built outside the city, in the Sviyazhsk horse settlement, "beyond the rampart." According to popular tradition, it is considered one of the oldest churches in Simbirsk, as noted by A. Yakhontov. He suggests that the Epiphany Church was erected simultaneously with the establishment of the Sviyazhsk settlement and the first Cossack settlement in this area. Yakhontov believes that the old church, included in the structure of the church built in 1898, represents a chapel in the name of St. John the Baptist and is the original Epiphany Church that was located in the Simbirsk Sviyazhsk horse settlement.

From its founding, the church was made of stone. According to legend, the ravine next to the church, called Simbirka, was formed due to three brick sheds where bricks were made for the construction of the Epiphany Church. This is explained by the fact that the river Simbirka served as the northwestern boundary of the city until 1800, and opposite the estate of the V.I. Lenin Museum on Lenin Street, formerly Moscow Street, there were brick sheds in the ravine on the southern bank of the river at the end of the 18th century.

The historical and memorial significance of the Epiphany Church is associated with the founding of one of the first Sviyazhsk settlements beyond the city rampart. Notably, in the past, Moscow Street reached the Epiphany Church, where the activities of the city administration ended. The continuation of the street towards Sviyaga was called the Epiphany descent and was under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Administration. The current street 12 September, in the part adjacent to Moscow Street, was called Epiphany Lane.

In the 1870s-1880s, the significance of the Epiphany Church increased, as the Ulyanov family lived in close proximity on Moscow Street from 1875 to 1887, and on Pokrovskaya Street from 1877 to 1878. In September 1833, A.S. Pushkin passed by this church. On January 15, 1886, the Ulyanov family said their farewells to Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov, who passed away on January 12, 1886.