The St. Catherine's Church in the city of Vetluga was built in 1850 at the city cemetery thanks to the efforts of Kazan merchant Alexei Yakovlev Tikhonov. The church had three altars: to St. Great Martyr Catherine, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to St. Nicholas. The church was affiliated with the Resurrection Cathedral. The building's design was developed in the workshop of academician K.A. Ton. The church had one dome and a tent-like bell tower, executed in the Russian style. Locally, it was often referred to as the "Cemetery Church."

During the period of repression, the church shared the fate of other religious buildings in Vetluga and the region. Some locals claim that the church was not officially closed, as they were baptized there in the late 1930s and early 1940s. This is possible, as the situation was quite paradoxical. In the autumn of 1937, priests, church wardens, and active parishioners were arrested, but the churches themselves had not yet been officially closed, although they could not function due to the lack of ministers and church management bodies. Authorities began closing churches as abandoned buildings. If a priest did appear, he served briefly, as he was arrested for "anti-Soviet propaganda." This was likely the case with St. Catherine's Church. The authorities did not dare to officially close it, as the outrage of the believers was great and expressed in complaints and petitions. However, this did not stop the process of the church's destruction. According to locals, for some time the building housed a grain warehouse. The bell tower was demolished, the dome destroyed, and the destruction of the cemetery, which had begun in 1918, continued. Grave slabs and monuments were used by residents for the foundations of houses. Some church property was confiscated or destroyed, while some religious items were sent to the Vetluga Museum, which did not happen with the property of the Cathedral and the Trinity Church. These items were preserved and later transferred to the newly reopened church. According to available data, the church was reopened in early 1943 and has not been closed since. It became the only functioning church over a large territory of Povetluzhye.

In 2000, the church was fully restored, and a bell tower and four domes were built, which were not present in the original design.