The area near the Entrance to Jerusalem Church and the beginning of the modern Babushkin Street in Totma was once called Sablin Konez. This name originated from the surname of local landowners and salt industry entrepreneurs, the Sablin family, who built a wooden church dedicated to the prophet Elijah in Varnitsy in the early 16th century. Later, this church was moved to the area, which was then on the outskirts of the settlement. Semyon Sablin, one of the family members, is known as the author of a unique document on salt production technology titled "Description of How to Start Making New Pipes in a New Place." Many provisions from this document are still relevant today, being applied in mining engineering works.

It was here, on the site of the relocated and several times rebuilt Elijah Church, that the construction of the first stone church in Totma began in 1738. The construction lasted only two years, thanks to the funding from I.G. Firsov, the secretary of the Veliky Ustyug consistory. The new building was divided into two churches: the northern one, consecrated in the name of the prophet Elijah, and the southern, summer cold one, named Pretechensky.

The architecture of this first stone church in Totma reflects the initial stage of the development of Totma Baroque. Local historian A.V. Kuznetsov, playing with words, calls this church the Precursor of the Totma style. It indeed brought a special color to the local landscape, which did not fade even after the construction of the large Entrance to Jerusalem Church nearby. However, the church did not survive the Bolshevik takeover in 1917. The upper tier with the dome and the chapel of the Elijah Church were ruthlessly destroyed.